Indonesia’s Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has ruled out using state budget funds to repay debt tied to the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project, known as Whoosh, stating that responsibility for the obligation falls under Danantara, the newly formed state investment entity.
Speaking during a media gathering in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday, October 12, 2025, Purbaya emphasized that since March 2025, the government has ceased receiving dividend payments from state-owned enterprises, as those flows have been redirected to Danantara.
“I have not yet been contacted on this matter. If it falls under Danantara, they already have their own management and receive their own dividends, which on average exceed 80 trillion rupiah annually. They should handle it there, not come back to us (the Finance Ministry),” Purbaya said, as reported by kumparan.com.
The total cost of the Whoosh project reached USD 7.27 billion, equivalent to approximately 120 trillion rupiah at an exchange rate of 16,570 rupiah per U.S. Dollar. This figure includes a cost overrun of USD 1.2 billion, or about 19.8 trillion rupiah.
PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero), or PT KAI, currently carries a debt burden of 6.9 trillion rupiah from China Development Bank (CDB) related to cost overruns on the project. The debt is managed by a consortium of state-owned enterprises led by PT KAI.
Purbaya added that the debt associated with the project does not appear under government books, as the work was executed by PT KAI and its BUMN consortium partners.
Meanwhile, Danantara’s Chief Operating Officer, Dony Oskaria, previously stated that the company had prepared several schemes for restructuring the Whoosh debt, including one involving equity infusion. The debt restructuring plan is listed among Danantara’s 22 strategic work programs in its 2025 Company Work Plan and Budget (RKAP).
Danantara aims to finalize the Whoosh debt restructuring by the first half of 2026, according to earlier statements from its leadership.
