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  8. Hambalang Sports Centre

About the project

The Hambalang Athlete House and Sports Center Project in West Java was launched by Indonesia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports to create a national training facility for young athletes.

Initially budgeted at IDR 125 billion (USD 7.5 million), the project’s cost ballooned to IDR 2.5 trillion (USD 149.5 million) before it was halted amid one of Indonesia’s most infamous corruption scandals.

Conceived in the early 2000s, the project aimed to establish a National Sports Training and Education Center, evolving from a two-story sports school as their initial plan. After surveying several sites, a verification team selected Hambalang village in Bogor.

However, this location was already identified as a medium-to-high disaster risk zone by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Despite expert warnings against construction, development proceeded in 2010.

According to Indonesia’s Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), irregularities spanned multiple stages—budgeting, procurement, and implementation. The project was officially discontinued in 2012 when the parties involved were proven to have committed criminal acts of corruption.

Corruption risks

The ICRAT assessment found that the indicative risk of corruption was very high (score of 5) and that the risks can be be considered ‘political corruption’ due to conflicts of interest and undue influence from politically exposed persons (PEP). The red flags indicating a high level of corruption risk were:

  • Problematic planning processes.
  • Conflict of interests between the executive and legislative and undue influence from parliament members.
  • Gap in procurement regulation with limited oversight authority by the National Public Procurement Agency.

Corruption controversies

Lack of Budgeting, Procurement, and Information Transparency

Corruption in the Hambalang project began at the planning stage. The project’s fourfold budget increase lacked transparent justification, raising early red flags about manipulation in the budget revision process. The changes led to payments that were inflated by over IDR 514 billion, and total state losses exceeded IDR 706 billion (USD 42.2 million).

Undue Influence and Kickbacks

Investigations revealed that politically exposed persons (PEPs) - including senior members of the Democratic Party - exerted undue influence over project approvals and budgeting. Kickbacks were reportedly exchanged to secure parliamentary support and ensure that PT Adhi Karya, a state-owned enterprise, won the construction contract.

Conflict of Interests

The case exposed deep conflicts of interest between the executive and legislative branches, both dominated at the time by the same political party. This alignment between political and bureaucratic actors facilitated organized political corruption, blurring the line between governance and party interests.

Findings

  1. Problematic planning processes. The project did not secure the required environmental impact assessment and has a high risk of landslides. The proposed budget increased four times more than the initial proposal without proper due diligence and needs assessment, worsened by the lack of transparency. 
  2. Conflict of interests. Parliament members from the Democratic Party were found to be involved in bribery cases as they approved and secured the project. Project proponents from the executive agency (Ministry of Youth and Sports) and the decision maker deciding and approving the budget from the legislative are from the same party.  
  3. Gap in broader procurement legislation. There is no law on procurement during the project planning and implementation. The procurement is still regulated under Presidential Regulation providing limited oversight authority and a gap in enforcement within the National Public Procurement Agency. The National Public Procurement Agency found several violations during procurement process of this project. However, their recommendations may be ignored. At the same time, PT Adhi Karya, the state-owned enterprise winning the contract, was named a suspect by the Anti-Corruption Commission in the project.