Legislator Laments Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail's Capital Injection
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11 January 2023 22:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Legislator from Commission V of the House of Representatives (DPR), Suryadi Jaya Purnama, on Wednesday lamented the government’s decision that poured out an Rp3.2 trillion State Capital Injection (PMN) to state-run railway firm KAI. The capital injection will reportedly be used to cover the cost overruns of the Jakarta Bandung high-speed railway (KCJB) project.
“We are concerned with the state injection rollout because the government broke their promise of not using the State Budget (APBN) to fund the KCJB project,” said Suryadi in a statement on Wednesday, January 11.
This is not the first time the government had rolled out a state capital injection for KAI. On December 27, 2021, the government issued a Rp6.9 trillion PMN for the company under Government Regulation No.119/2021 and saw Rp4.1 trillion allocated for the Jakarta Bandung high-speed railway while the rest was used for the Greater Jakarta LRT.
In total, the government has issued Rp7.3 trillion exclusively to cover the KCJB cost overrun.
The capital injection is sourced from the Extra Budget Balance (SAL). In 2021, the government used Rp143.9 trillion from the SAL, most of which was used to finance PMN, and one of them is for this KCJB project. Then in 2022, the use of SAL is estimated at Rp127.3 trillion, most of which will also be used again for PMN.
In parallel, Suryadi said that a number of State Ministers are unable to 100 percent realize their budgets such as the Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Ministry which could only realize 94.5 percent while the Transportation Ministry was only able to realize 97.19 percent.
“These funds should be directly enjoyed by the general public, but were not absorbed properly and were then allocated for a project with unclear benefits,” Suryadi lamented.
Due to these reasons, Suryadi asks the government to meticulously calculate the economic benefits for the public for the use of state capital injection sourced from SAL. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, 74.40 percent of the SOEs that had been injected with PMN actually had their equity results below the cost of debt.
“Especially the KCJB project that is predicted to only break even in 2061,” said the legislator.
Suryadi also emphasized that the Jakarta Bandung high-speed railway project must not threaten the existence of other public transportation that connects the two cities.
RIRI RAHAYU
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