Bamsoet Says Legal Certainty Must Be the Main Foundation of National Strategic Projects

Bambang Soesatyo (Bamsoet), a member of the House of Representatives from the Golkar Party, has said that legal certainty must be the foundation for implementing National Strategic Projects (PSN). He paid particular attention to infrastructure projects using the Government Cooperation with Business Entities scheme (KPBU).

According to him, clarity on who is authorised to make decisions and the basis of that authority is essential when a project involves large investments and long-term contracts. He said the issue has become increasingly relevant as the scale of the PSN continues to grow.

“We must not build infrastructure on a legal construction that still leaves grey areas. When a Government Cooperation Project Officer (PJPK) makes a decision of very significant value, it must be clear from the outset whether that authority derives from attribution, delegation or mandate. Officials should not be asked to move quickly for the sake of development, only to later face legal problems because the limits of their authority were never firmly defined,” Bamsoet said in a written statement on Tuesday (15/9/2026).

Based on data from the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, in accordance with Coordinating Ministerial Regulation Number 16 of 2025, Bamsoet said there are 226 projects and 24 programmes included in the PSN with potential investment value of around Rp 6,491 trillion. Of the 226 projects, 116 have been completed with investment of around Rp 1,796.1 trillion.

Meanwhile, he said, there are 110 projects still unfinished with a value of around Rp 3,105.8 trillion. He noted that the KPBU and private portion accounts for around 87 per cent, or about Rp 2,841.28 trillion, of those unfinished projects.

Bamsoet made these remarks while examining the results of a doctoral dissertation in legal studies by Andriansyah Tiawarman of Borobudur University. The dissertation addressed the reconstruction of the delegation of PJPK authority in infrastructure provision through the KPBU scheme.

He said one of the issues requiring serious attention is the ambiguity between mandate and delegation in KPBU implementation. He cited Presidential Regulation Number 38 of 2015 on KPBU, which already regulates the mechanism of cooperation between government and business entities.

He said actual practice shows that project implementation intersects with various sectoral regulations and divisions of governmental authority that can give rise to differing interpretations. He said this could produce an administrative chilling effect, a situation in which officials become overly cautious in making decisions for fear of problems arising.

He explained that this causes projects to slow, land acquisition to be delayed, financial close to be difficult to achieve, and cooperation agreements to drag on. Meanwhile, business entities must bear mounting costs and uncertainty.

“Mandate and delegation must not be treated as interchangeable administrative terms. Their legal consequences are different. In a mandate, the recipient of authority acts for and on behalf of the mandator, whereas in delegation, authority is transferred to the delegate accompanied by responsibility consequences in accordance with legal provisions. If this construction is unclear, public officials can find themselves in a vulnerable position when decisions are later deemed to exceed their authority, or ultra vires,” Bamsoet said.

The Golkar deputy chairman said there must be an overhaul, beginning with comprehensively mapping all actions and legal acts throughout the KPBU cycle. Among other things, Bamsoet said, everything from identifying infrastructure needs, planning, appointing the PJPK, project preparation, feasibility studies, determining the procurement scheme, through to termination and asset transfer, must have a traceable legal basis of authority.

“What we need to build is a kind of clear map of authority from upstream to downstream. For every action in a KPBU, it must be possible to answer who is authorised, what the source of that authority is, whether the authority can be delegated or only mandated, who is responsible, and how it is supervised. That way, we can objectively distinguish between administrative errors, procedural violations, and abuse of authority,” Bamsoet explained.

Bamsoet urged the government to synchronise regulations related to KPBU. According to him, rules on state administration, regional government, state finances, goods and services procurement, and asset management need to be aligned with sectoral regulations.

“Overlapping regulations must be resolved at their source. We need one legal design capable of connecting central and regional authority, technical ministries and the PJPK, as well as government and business entities. Legal certainty must give officials room to work quickly while remaining within the corridor of accountability. At the same time, business entities must obtain contractual certainty and the public must have their rights protected,” Bamsoet concluded.