Part 5/13:
Economically, the numbers are bleak. Ticket revenues do not even cover interest payments on Chinese loans, let alone operational costs. Indonesia is now entangled in renegotiations with Beijing, trying to push back debt maturities or seek lower interest rates. However, this is a familiar pattern seen across other Chinese-funded projects in Laos, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka: grand openings, international headlines, then silence—leaving behind a financial time bomb.