Whoosh Debt Taken Over by Finance Ministry, Purbaya Guarantees No Burden on State Budget

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa held a meeting at his office with Danantara COO and Head of BP BUMN, Dony Oskaria, to discuss the restructuring settlement of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail, known as Whoosh. The meeting resulted in a decision that the Whoosh debt will be transferred to the Finance Ministry, with the process targeted for completion around mid-September 2026. “This Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail is being handed over from Danantara to the Finance Ministry. We are accelerating the process, and it should likely be cleared by mid-September,” Purbaya said at the Finance Ministry in Jakarta on Wednesday. Purbaya assured that the debt management would not burden the state budget, as it will be handled through a Special Mission Vehicle under the Finance Ministry. “We will use one of our fiscal SMV arms to manage it. We have many, such as SMI and others,” Purbaya said. “So even though the settlement is by the government, it does not directly become a responsibility or burden the state budget,” he added. Regarding the ownership of PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China, Purbaya stated that the company will fall under the coordination of the Finance Ministry, no longer under PT KAI. “So 60 percent of KCIC shares are given to us, the other 40 percent is held by others, including China. We have asked China, and it seems they still want to continue this project and might, if we instruct, extend it to East Java,” Purbaya said. On the same occasion, Danantara COO Dony Oskaria acknowledged that his team is still finalising the calculation of the total Whoosh debt amount. “The nominal amount will be confirmed upon the handover. The details are still being calculated. Mid-September at the latest,” he said. PT KCIC is a joint venture between an Indonesian state-owned enterprise consortium and a Chinese company consortium, with 60 percent of shares held by the Indonesian side through PT Pilar Sinergi BUMN Indonesia and the remaining 40 percent held by the Chinese consortium.