Head of BP BUMN Discusses Option for Ministry of Finance to Take Over PT KCIC
Head of the State-Owned Enterprises Regulatory Agency (BP BUMN), Dony Oskaria, has discussed the option for the Ministry of Finance to take over PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China (KCIC), the consortium managing the Jakarta-Bandung (KCJB) or Whoosh project.
This step is one of the options being studied to resolve the debt issues of the Whoosh project. Since it began in 2016, the high-speed rail project has incurred total costs of US$7.2 billion, equivalent to Rp120 trillion at an exchange rate of Rp16,707 per US dollar. This comprises an initial investment of US$6.02 billion and cost overruns of US$1.21 billion.
However, Dony Oskaria emphasised that this option is not yet final. The government, according to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Danantara Investment Management Agency, is still examining several resolution options.
“Yes, the possibility (of KCIC being taken over by the Ministry of Finance), this is something we are… Insha’Allah, hopefully it will be finalised soon, we are considering them one by one. There are several schemes, of course, and I will update later,” Dony stated at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Tuesday, 7 April 2026.
In addition to the option of management by the Ministry of Finance, the government is also preparing other alternatives to address the issues at KCIC. “All resolutions, whether option A or option B, but within one to two months, it will be settled,” Dony said.
Dony did not provide further details on the fate of the PT Pilar Sinergi BUMN Indonesia (PSBI) consortium in KCIC, which consists of several state-owned companies such as PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), PT Wijaya Karya (WIKA), PT Jasa Marga, and PT Perkebunan Nusantara I.
It is known that PT KCIC is a joint venture between Indonesia, through PT PSBI with a 60 per cent stake, and China, through Beijing Yawan HSR Co. Ltd. with a 40 per cent stake.
“That (consortium) we will settle altogether. We want it to be done once and for all, completely,” Dony said.
Furthermore, Dony continued, the government plans to return state-owned companies to their core business focus, so they are not burdened with projects outside their respective areas.
“We will return them to their portions; for example, WIKA is not in that field, we will focus on contracting. We will settle them one by one,” Dony stated.
With this approach, Dony believes that losses like those experienced by WIKA due to involvement in the Whoosh project will not recur.
“So they will no longer be involved in railways because it is not in line with their business, right? So the resolution is like that… one by one. Surely everyone knows; for example, if WIKA is here, there is also… related to railways with Bukit Asam and so on. We will settle and tidy this up. We want everything we do to be truly complete,” Dony explained.