TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Former Secretary of the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, Said Didu, explained the cause of debt for state-owned companies operating in the work sector to swell to trillions of rupiah. Said said the problem was driven by a change in function BUMN from a construction company to the service and construction sector.
“It’s no wonder that the construction of apartments, toll roads, airports, state-owned enterprises is the owner of the shares,” Said said in a virtual discussion on Friday, April 9, 2021.
In fact, according to Said, BUMN Karya does not have the ability to manage the infrastructure being built. In addition, the work BUMN must carry out assignments from countries that do not have economic value.
Said Didu gave an example of the ineffective construction of West Java International Airport or Kertajati Airport. During Ignasius Jonan’s leadership as Minister of Transportation, this project plan did not actually materialize. “But when Budi Karya became minister of transportation, this was continued,” said Said.
To prevent debt swelling, Said said the directors of BUMN should tell the government that the state must bear all costs incurred due to projects that have no economic value. This is in accordance with Article 66 of Law Number 19 of 2003 concerning BUMN.
Another way, the state can support BUMN works with state capital participation or PMN. PMN, said Said, was last awarded in the 2016-2017 period. However, after that, the construction company no longer received any equity participation.
“Finally, the construction BUMNs continued the project by seeking debt. I believe in debt because the net margin for construction services is 4 percent. If he takes a debt with an interest rate of 11-12 percent, he will definitely suffer a loss, ”said Said.
Karya BUMN, such as PT Waskita Karya (Persero) Tbk, previously recorded corporate debt reaching Rp 90 trillion and debt interest of Rp 4.7 trillion. The increase in debt was partly due to the failure of the divestment process for five toll roads.
Read: Boss Waskita Karya Explains 3 Causes of Companies Entangled in Debt of IDR 90 Trillion
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