Indonesian Government Restructures Debt Maturity of Debt-Laden Whoosh High-Speed Railway to 80 Years

【JAKARTA, Indonesia—Correspondent Aulia Maulida Hamdani】The Indonesian government is pursuing a plan to extend the maturity of the massive debt incurred by the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway 'Whoosh' to as long as 80 years, with annual repayments of approximately 1 trillion rupiah (about 76.2 billion won).
According to local media reports on the 9th, Indonesia’s Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said at a press briefing in Jakarta the previous day, "The debt is large, but if it is restructured with an 80-year maturity, it will be manageable," adding, "Annual repayments will be around 1 trillion rupiah." He said the annual repayment burden would not be substantial and that the Ministry of Finance should be able to manage it adequately.
The Indonesian government plans to entrust management of Whoosh’s debt to a special-purpose vehicle (SMV) or a public service agency (BLU) under the Ministry of Finance. Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) and the state-owned infrastructure financing institution PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (Persero) (PT SMI) are currently being considered as candidates. Since the debt burden is expected to be lower than anticipated, the government is also leaving open the option of designating only one SMV. The process of transferring responsibility for debt management from sovereign wealth fund Danantara Indonesia to the Ministry of Finance is scheduled to take place on September 15.
Minister Purbaya said the government also plans to pursue an extension of the Whoosh high-speed railway to other regions in the future. "Once the government takes over management, it plans to extend the Whoosh line to East Java," he said. "We have already discussed this with the Chinese finance minister and other relevant authorities, and the Chinese side has also shown interest."
He had previously said, "If an SMV under the Ministry of Finance manages Whoosh’s debt, it could generate annual profits of up to 800 billion rupiah (about 61 billion won)," adding, "One of the SMVs could earn annual profits of 3 trillion to 4 trillion rupiah (about 228.7 billion to 304.8 billion won)."

[email protected] Correspondent Aulia Maulida Hamdani Reporter