Jakarta. Indonesian sovereign fund Danantara is working on a debt restructuring plan for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, a megaproject that has taken up multibillion-dollar worth of Chinese loans.

The railway, dubbed Whoosh, has allowed people to go from Jakarta to West Java’s Bandung in 45 minutes. The trip can take up to 3 hours by car. While the bullet train has helped many Indonesians save time, the $7.3 billion rail has put Indonesia in a hefty debt. 

China Development Bank’s loans have covered 75 percent of the costs. According to media reports, China set a 2 percent annual interest rate for the original portion of the loan. Still, the project later faced a $1.2 billion budget overrun following pandemic-related movement restrictions and land acquisition trouble. China is charging a 3.4 percent annual interest rate for the money borrowed to pay the cost overrun.

Danantara’s boss Rosan Roeslani told reporters on Tuesday evening that the agency was trying to find ways to change the terms to make the loans easier to pay back.

“We are evaluating [the project]. If we carry out a corporate action, we completely take care of it [the debt], and not just postpone it. However, we will find ways on how we can restructure Whoosh’s [debt],” Rosan said in Jakarta.

Rosan did not disclose the specifics of how big of an interest reduction or term extension the agency would aim for. 

“We will announce it later,” Rosan said.

KCIC, a joint venture of Indonesian and Chinese state-run enterprise consortia, operates Whoosh. Jakarta's side Pilar Sinergi BUMN Indonesia (PSBI) owns 60 percent of KCIC’s shares. The remaining 40 percent go to Beijing Yawan HSR. The details of shareholders in PSBI is as follows: railway operator Kereta Api Indonesia (58.53 percent),  construction firm Wijaya Karya (33.36 percent), plantation company Perkebunan I (1.03 percent), tollway operator Jasa Marga (7.08 percent). The KCIC’s shareholders were in charge of paying 25 percent of the construction bill.

Whoosh recorded 2.9 million passengers between January and June 2025, up by 10 percent year-on-year.

Amid the debt concerns, President Prabowo Subianto wants to extend the project up to the East Javan capital of Surabaya -- a plan that his senior minister Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono had confirmed last week. The infrastructure czar even said that the legal framework for this expansion was underway, reports showed. 

Whoosh is Southeast Asia’s first high-speed railway. It became a centerpiece of Indonesia-China’s ties, even getting a shout-out during Prabowo’s bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing last November.

“The two sides speak highly of the important contributions of the Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Railway to local economic and social development over the past year since it was officially put into use, and will jointly ensure its high-quality operation,” the joint leaders’ statement reads.

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