City govt loses RP 4.8 billion in parking fees<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The city loses at least Rp 4.8 billion
\n(US$640,000) in potential parking revenue each month due to the
\ncritical shortage of authorized parking areas, a city councilor
\nsaid yesterday.<\/p>\n
Ali Wongso HS, chief of City Council's Commission D for
\ndevelopment, said the funds ended up in the pockets of illegal
\nparking attendants because of the administration's inability to
\nprovide sufficient parking spaces.<\/p>\n
\"Our official parking attendants can only collect parking fees
\nfrom vehicles parked in authorized parking spaces on or off the
\nstreet, which are far less in number than vehicles parked in
\nillegal parking lots,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Official statistics shows there are only 85,770 authorized
\nparking spaces available to accommodate at least 1.3 million
\nprivate vehicles in the city.<\/p>\n
Ali estimated that at least 25 percent of the 1.2 million
\nvehicles unable to find authorized spaces -- around 325,000 --
\nparked in illegal on-street parking areas usually controlled by
\nlocal hoodlums.<\/p>\n
\"Yet, we cannot blame people for parking their cars at
\nunauthorized places and paying Rp 500 to the hoodlums. They would
\nnot do that if there were enough legal parking spaces available,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Ali said the city's parking management agency, BP Parkir, had
\ncollected only Rp 14 billion of the targeted Rp 25 billion in the
\n1997\/1998 fiscal year that ended last month.<\/p>\n
It is projected to collect Rp 12.4 billion from the parking
\nlots for the fiscal 1998\/1999.<\/p>\n
The highest contributors to the city's parking revenue are
\nprivate sources, including hotels and office buildings licensed
\nto organize parking services in and around their premises.<\/p>\n
Some 71,200 of the authorized 85,770 parking spaces are
\ncurrently controlled by those license holders.<\/p>\n
Parties with licenses to organize public parking lots and
\nservices are required to pay 25 percent of their total parking
\nrevenue to the administration.<\/p>\n
Media reports have alleged that some permit holders failed to
\nconfer funds to the administration.<\/p>\n
Ali said the administration must improve its parking system by
\nadding more spaces, which would increase its revenue.<\/p>\n
\"It could establish more parking spaces or take over the
\nhandling of existing illegal on-street parking spaces from the
\nhoodlums,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Ali said the dearth of legal parking spaces was also a factor
\nin the city's acute traffic problems.<\/p>\n
Traffic snarls are particularly common on busy streets where
\nexcessive numbers of vehicles are allowed to park, he said.<\/p>\n
The administration should consider constructing multistory
\nparking lots to solve the problem, he said, and could cooperate
\nwith the private sector in their development if funding was a
\nproblem.<\/p>\n
But he cautioned that the handling of revenues should be under
\nthe city.<\/p>\n
\"The management of parking lots must be directly controlled by
\nthe governor in order to assure that the revenue derived from the
\nservice will go to the state coffers,\" he said. (cst)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/city-govt-loses-rp-48-billion-in-parking-fees-1447893297",
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