Cost Swelling Of The Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Rail Project Reaches IDR 16.8 Trillion, BPKP: Lower Than PT KCIC's Estimate

BPKP building. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) has completed an audit of the cost overrun for the Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Train (KCJB) project. The value is 1.18 billion US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 16.8 trillion.

Spokesman for BPKP Eri Satriana explained that this value was obtained from the results of the BPKP audit at the request of the Ministry of SOEs to conduct a review of the high-speed train project since December 2021. Eri explained the method used by BPKP in calculating cost overrun by reviewing documents on the assertions submitted by the Ministry of SOEs through interviews and observations made in the field.

"As has been published in several media, the figure is 1.18 billion US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 16.8 trillion," he told reporters, Wednesday, June 29.

For your information, the cost overrun figure recorded from the results of the BPKP audit is much lower than the estimate of PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC) of 1.67 billion US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 24 trillion. KCIC itself is the operator of the construction and operation of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train.

Eri explained that the figure obtained by BPKP was smaller than KCIC's estimate because the auditor only calculated the construction costs.

"For its own calculation, BPKP only performs cost overrun for development costs, while operational costs after the fast train operates will not be included in cost overrun costs," he said.

Furthermore, Eri said that the figure is an estimated budget, and there are still some that are in the process of being disputed. So that it is possible to make changes, including if there are new rules that are issued after the cost overrun review by BPKP is completed.

Eri also said that BPKP did not avoid the additional cost overrun of the KCJB project of Rp. 2.3 trillion. The inflated costs come from taxes and land acquisition.

"For the tax, it is new evidence after the BPKP review is complete because there are new tax regulations and it has not been included in the assertion," he said.