After obtaining his bachelor's from Gadjah Mada University in 1979, he moved into the ministry of public works and began his career there.

Due to Widodo's infrastructure programs, Basuki's ministry received significant portions of the budget during his tenure, measuring Rp 107.3 trillion (US$ 7.5 billion) for the 2018 fiscal year.

Projects under his tenure included mass construction of public housing, road infrastructure and water reservoirs.

Basuki was born in Surakarta on 5 November 1954, as the fourth son of a soldier in the Indonesian Army with seven siblings.

[3] After completing high school at SMA Negeri 5 Surabaya (id), he was admitted into Gadjah Mada University where he studied engineering geology.

[8] During his time at the ministry, he had participated in several national-level working groups including ones related to rehabilitation following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Aceh, handling of the Sidoarjo mud flow (2006–2007), reparation of the Purbaleunyi Toll Road and management of food scarcity in Yahukimo Regency (both in 2006).

[13] He was one of the five Gadjah Mada University alumni in the cabinet lineup (excluding Widodo himself), and had a reported asset of Rp 6.5 billion (about US$ 500,000) in 2012.

[14][15] Less than two months after becoming minister, Basuki agreed to provide a USD 62 million loan to compensate the victims of the Sidoarjo mud flow after getting in contact with the Bakrie Group.

[19] While it only used about 8% of its IDR 118 trillion (USD 8.94 billion) annual budget within the first five months,[20] by the end of that year the number increased to 94.5%.

Basuki described the capital's possible future movement from Jakarta as a "political decision",[27] and that the move "is not easy" with the ministry only having done literature studies instead of macro planning.

[32] In implementation, the program received various complaints regarding the project speed to the slow response of permits from local governments.