TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A special staffer for State-owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir on Sunday announced that the government will closely monitor the Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway project to prevent potential corruption.

The special staff, Arya Sinulingga, gave the statement after the issuance of Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No.93/2021 permitting the use of the State Budget (APBN) to fund the railway’s construction. This is a contrast to the previous Perpres on the project that prevents the use of the APBN.

“We will keep an eye to prevent potential corruption and misappropriation, which we will not accommodate,” the staffer wrote in a press release on October 10.

The amount of funds sourced from the State Budget will be confirmed after an audit is done by the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), which is expected to complete in December this year.

According to previous reports, the ambitious project was predicted to experience a cost overrun of roughly US$1.9 billion or Rp27.17 trillion in current exchange.

The initial cause of the skyrocketing budget is due to design changes, which he said on October 9, was not an uncommon aspect during the construction of major projects. Arya said the design changes to the Jakarta - Bandung high speed railway project was due to the geographical and geological changes compared to initial estimation.

Such changes happen to many transportation projects in other countries, he said, claiming that the main cause for it was the rising prices of land.

Read: Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail Project Cost Overruns; KAI Explains

CAESAR AKBAR | FRANCISCA CHRISTY