KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. Investors want the government to now repay the funds they had spent to acquire land for toll road projects.

Herwidiakto, president director of developer PT Waskita Toll Road, a subsidiary of state-owned construction company PT Waskita Karta, said the company had spent Rp 6.3 trillion (US$445.41 million) for land acquisition, Rp 1.7 trillion of which was to acquire land for government’s projects.

He said the funds that had been spent by the company had been audited by the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), but the company had not received payment from the State Assets Management Institute (LMAN), which is responsible for the reimbursements.

To get repaid, toll road developers are required to submit documentation to the Toll Road Authority Body (BPJT), which would verify the relevant documents before submitting them to the BPKP for auditing.

Herwidiakto expressed the hope that the government would soon repay the company because the sluggish payment process had disrupted the company’s cash flow. “It certainly troubles us because in the early period of toll road operation, we suffer financial shortages,” he said in Jakarta on Sunday.

In late January, the BPJT had sent a letter to the LMAN to seek payment of the Rp 5.03 trillion spent to acquire 7,934 plots of land between Oct. 13, 2018 and Jan. 18 of this year.

State-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga corporate secretary Mohamad Agus Setiawan similarly called on the government to immediately repay the funds the company had spent. He admitted that some of its subsidiaries were repaid in stages.

Meanwhile, LMAN president director Rahayu Puspasari has asked toll road business players not to worry about the payments because the institution had adequate funds to repay them. She said from 2016 to 2018, LMAN received Rp 59.39 trillion from the government, while it only needed Rp 36.35 trillion.

She said payments were delayed only if the documents submitted by the relevant parties were incomplete.

Editor: Wahyu T.Rahmawati