Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Rail Project Uses State Budget, PKS Government Value Is Inconsistent

Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train. (Photo: Doc. KCIC)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the PKS Central Board, Mardani Ali Sera, assessed that President Joko Widodo's decision to allow State Budget funds to be used to finance the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project shows that the government is inconsistent.

In fact, according to him, the decision has a high chance of damaging the credibility of SOE projects. Moreover, since the beginning of this project, the President has said that he will not use State Budget funds.

"From the start, we have vowed that we will not use State Budget funds", said Mardani, Tuesday, October 12.

Mardani is worried that the project will actually burden the government even more. Because the estimated user interest and occupancy for this project may change during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The legislator for the DKI Jakarta electoral district suspects that several things have caused the project budget to swell to tens of trillions of rupiah. Starting from not being careful in implementation to damaging the environment, poor planning, and less comprehensive cost calculations.

If not considered properly, said Mardani, this project has the potential to cause long-term losses. Moreover, according to him, this project has never been without problems since it was implemented at the end of 2015.

"The impact of a hasty feasibility study, and not paying attention to a thorough environmental impact analysis (AMDAL)", explained Mardani.

The member of Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives also reminded the government that Indonesia still has to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Where this crisis has never been faced before by any country.

"This crisis requires the Indonesian people to ensure that state funds can be used as much as possible to overcome the health crisis and the socio-economic impacts it causes. Especially as our country has limited fiscal capacity", said Mardani.