Finance Minister Reveals Plan to Take Over 60% Stake in Whoosh
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadesta met with the Head of the State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) Supervisory Board at the Ministry of Finance office in Jakarta on 5 August 2025. The meeting discussed accelerating the resolution of various strategic SOE issues, ranging from the refinement of tax regulations and the management of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail (Whoosh) to support for various strategic government programmes.
During the meeting, the Minister emphasised the importance of synergy between the Ministry of Finance and the SOE Supervisory Board to ensure the SOE transformation process proceeds more quickly, provides policy certainty, and maintains the principles of good governance and fiscal sustainability.
One of the main agendas discussed was accelerating the completion of the transfer of Whoosh management to the Ministry of Finance. The Minister stated that the process is targeted for completion by mid-September 2026 through intensive coordination with all stakeholders. ‘We will accelerate the process. Hopefully, the transfer of KCJB management will be completed by mid-September,’ the Minister told reporters after the meeting.
The Minister explained that the management of KCJB will be carried out through one of the special mission vehicles under the coordination of the Ministry of Finance. This scheme is designed to ensure the project’s management continues sustainably without directly burdening the state budget.
In addition to discussing KCJB, the meeting also resulted in an understanding to accelerate the completion of tax regulation improvements to support the consolidation and transformation of SOEs. This policy is expected to provide certainty for the restructuring process so that SOE transformation can proceed more effectively and efficiently.
Following the meeting with Danantara, Purbaya confirmed that the government will fully take over Whoosh’s debt. With this decision, the Ministry of Finance will take over the shares of the PSBI consortium in KCIC. The consortium consists of PTPN III, PT KAI, and WIKA. However, Purbaya stressed that the consortium will not be dissolved, but rather its shares will be transferred to the Ministry of Finance’s SMV. ‘No, the consortium’s shares will be transferred to me,’ said Purbaya.
Purbaya did not specify which SMV will manage the KCIC shares. ‘It will be transferred to the Ministry of Finance; I will manage all of KCIC. But we will use one of our fiscal Special Mission Vehicles to manage it. We have many, such as SMI and others. So it will not become a direct responsibility of the state budget,’ Purbaya stated.
Purbaya also confirmed that the shareholder composition of KCIC remains unchanged, with approximately 60% held by the Indonesian consortium and 40% by the Chinese consortium. ‘60% is ours, around 40%. There are others, the Chinese are still there. We have also asked the Chinese side. It seems they still want to continue this project,’ he said. Purbaya did not elaborate further on the debt financing scheme after the takeover by the SMV, only assuring that the Whoosh debt will not burden the state budget.