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Whoosh burden bleeding finances, WIKA tells House
House Commission VI has heard from WIKA's president director that the state-owned construction firm's ongoing financial problems have left it dependent on state capital injections to complete government projects.
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A train of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail (HSR) service, operating commercially as Whoosh, is parked on Oct. 2, 2023 at the Halim HSR Station in East Jakarta. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
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T Wijaya Karya (WIKA) has blamed its financial woes on the interest burden and losses from the construction and operation of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail (HSR), which operates under the Whoosh brand.
The financial pressure has left the state-owned construction firm unable to continue existing projects, such as constructing toll roads and infrastructure in the new capital city of Nusantara in East Kalimantan, without state capital injection (PMN).
The firm has requested another Rp 2 trillion in PMN for next year after receiving Rp 6 trillion (US$368 million) from the state budget in April to finance various projects, such as the Serang-Panimbang Toll Road in Banten and the Semarang-Demak Toll Road in Central Java, as well as road and water infrastructure in Nusantara.
“We will use the money as additional working capital to finish strategic projects, some of which have experienced cost overruns,” WIKA president director Agung Budi Waskito said on Monday during a meeting with House of Representatives Commission VI.
Read also: Erick proposes Rp 44t in state capital injection for SOEs next year
In response to lawmakers asking why WIKA had a high debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio of 5.89 and net losses of Rp 7.8 trillion last year, Agung said the firm’s biggest burden came from Whoosh, the construction phase for which it had to contribute Rp 6.1 trillion and another Rp 5.5 trillion that was still in dispute.
This had compelled WIKA to issue Rp 11 trillion in bonds, resulting in a Rp 3.2 trillion financing cost for 2023 alone.
