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Indonesia’s High-Speed Rail to Nowhere: A 60-Year Installment Plan for a Ticking Time Bomb
What Actually Happened
| # | Claim | Date | Entities | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Whoosh high-speed rail project is under investigation for alleged corruption. | Whoosh, high-speed rail project | ANTARA News (archived) | |
| 2 | The project has been criticized for its high construction costs. | Whoosh, high-speed rail project | Kompas.com (archived) | |
| 3 | Acquiring land in Java is expensive, contributing to the project's high costs. | Java, Whoosh, high-speed rail project | Kompas.com (archived) | |
| 4 | The head of the state-owned enterprise responsible for the Whoosh project called it a 'ticking time bomb' due to its financial health. | Whoosh, state-owned enterprise (SOE), high-speed rail project | CNBC Indonesia (archived) | |
| 5 | The project's debt was restructured, and Indonesia will repay loans to China over 50–60 years. | Whoosh, Indonesia, China, debt restructuring | Kompas.com (Money) (archived) | |
| 6 | The Minister of Finance stated that loan repayments for the Whoosh project will not come from the state budget. | Minister of Finance, Whoosh, state budget, loan repayments | CNBC Indonesia (archived) | |
| 7 | Loan repayments will instead come from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and a sovereign wealth fund. | state-owned enterprises (SOEs), sovereign wealth fund, loan repayments | CNBC Indonesia (archived) | |
| 8 | The transcript sarcastically notes that no examples exist where SOE debt failures have caused economic meltdowns, referencing Venezuela, Argentina, and Sri Lanka. | SOE debt failures, economic meltdowns, Venezuela, Argentina, Sri Lanka | Global Waves of Debt: Causes and Consequences — World Bank (archived) |