PDIP Politician Criticizes Formula E Circuit Project

JAKARTADAILY.ID - Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle politician Gilbert Simanjuntak criticized has many things about the Ancol Formula E Circuit, which is due to be completed soon.

In his harsh criticism, he shared some things that he thinks will not bring profit to the state, including airing rights, which are included in the ticket price.

He even said that the Formula E Circuit project exists only to save the face of one of the figures who took part in the project.

"This shows how even the organizer is not safe. They talked big about how there would be a lot of profit [to be made in the project]. But it's only a narrative and imaginary," Gilbert said to the media on April 2, 2022, as quoted by the sudut kata YouTube channel.

According to him, these profits are all made-up. Gilbert himself believes that this electric car racing event will only bring losses.

"They said there would be broadcasting rights, how much would the broadcasting rights be [sold for]? If I crunch the number, this event loses around Rp 700 billion even though this is a one-time event," Gilbert added.

He also said the Formula E Circuit would not be used again and only end up as a wasted construction. Gilbert is also certain Anies Baswedan will no longer be DKI Jakarta's Governor in 2023.

"If in the year 2023 [Jakarta's governor] is not Mr. Anies anymore, then how can we see its next operation. Perhaps [the circuit] will be finished in 2022, but it will not be for the people, but it is forced [to continue] only to save face," Gilbert continued.

As a representative of PDIP, Gilbert emphasized that his party was skeptical from the start. He believes that there are many irregularities concerning the project that should be thoroughly investigated by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) if necessary.

"PDI saw [this] from the start and asked for [things] to be opened for interpellation, but what happened instead was that the Regional Government took an extra-parliamentary action. Extra parliamentary, because the meeting was at his [Anies] house and not the Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) building. [I'm not sure] if it was [a] street or structured extra-parliamentary [action]," Gilbert said.

"We hope that the KPK will work well, and we will accept whatever the results are, because this should never have happened if [the matter] was discussed in the DPRD building. So this is a bit different, and logically there's something hidden, so it has come to this," Gilbert said.

Currently, the construction of the Ancol Formula E Circuit has reached the asphalting stage, with second and third layer asphalt work being done in several sectors. The pit lane is also under construction.

The article was translated from Pikiran-Rakyat.com's article titled "PDIP Kritik Harga Tiket Formula E, Proyek Untuk Muka Bukan Rakyat".

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