Negara Rugi Rp100 Triliun Per Tahun: Jokowi Cerita Background Pembangunan

SOLO Former President Joko Widodo revealed the reasons behind the construction of the Jakarta Fast Train "Bandung" while he was still in office. He said the project was born from the need to overcome economic losses due to severe congestion in the Jabodetabek and Bandung areas that have occurred for decades.

"From traffic jams, the state has lost a lot. In Jakarta it is around Rp. 65 trillion per year, and if it is added to Jabodetabek and Bandung it can be more than Rp. 100 trillion," said Jokowi in Solo, Sunday, October 26.

Jokowi explained that the construction of various mass modes of transportation such as KRL, MRT, LRT, Airport Train, and warehousing aims to encourage people to switch from private vehicles to public transportation. According to him, mass transportation is a public service, not profit-oriented business.

"Public transportation is not measured from financial benefits, but from social benefits such as reducing emissions, increasing productivity, and time efficiency," he said.

He gave an example of MRT Jakarta, which is subsidized by the DKI Provincial Government, is around Rp. 400 billion per year for the Lebak Bulus route, and can reach Rp. 4.5 trillion if all routes are completed.

Jokowi admits that changing people's habits from private vehicles to public transportation is not an easy thing, but the impact is starting to be felt. MRT has transported 171 million passengers, and bettersh is more than 12 million," he said.

In addition to unraveling congestion, he emphasized, mass transportation development also encourages economic growth. "Vehicles quickly grow new economic growth points," he said.

Jokowi's statement came a few weeks after former Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD said there were allegations of budget inflations (marks ups) on theASH project.

In a video uploaded on October 14, Mahfud stated that the calculation ofPORTsh costs in Indonesia reached 52 million US dollars per kilometer, while in China it was around 17'18 million US dollars, so it is suspected that there was an increase of up to three times.

Mahfud requested that the difference in costs be investigated to find out who raised the price and where the flow of funds went.