Anthony Budiawan opens up about the Alleged Mark Up for the Whoosh Fast Train, Almost 3 Times

FAJAR.CO, ID, JAKARTA — Prof Anthony Budiawan opens up about the alleged mark up for the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung Fast Train (KCJB) or Whoosh. He said his dominance had almost tripled.

The former Chancellor of the Kwik Kian Gie Institute of Business and Informatics said that the cost of a similar project in China was only US$ 17 million to US$ 30 million per kilometer. Meanwhile in Indonesia it reaches 52 US$ per Km.

According to him, this value is very expensive. Therefore, he believes that Law Enforcement Officials (APH) need to immediately investigate.

“Because a similar project in China costs only 17 to 30 million (US dollars) per kilometer. For us it is 52 million (US dollars) per kilometer,” said Anthony on the Justice Forum YouTube podcast, Monday (20/10/2025).

“When compared to the lowest, of course it is almost three times higher,” he added.

Then, he said that the Jakarta-Bandung train route was not too difficult. Therefore, the price of 25 million US dollars per km is actually sufficient for the project.

He also asked law enforcement officials to intervene as to why this project could be twice as high as the one in China. He said cost overruns in high-speed train projects were not normal.

Anthony suspects that Japan’s inclusion in the Whoosh tender was aimed at inflating prices.

“Japan was indeed included in the Jakarta-Bandung tender, but then I suspected that Japan was included to increase prices because they were very cheap,” he said.

According to him, Japan then canceled the collaboration on the grounds that Japan asked for guarantees from the government.