Parking: Tip of the iceberg<\/p>\n
The Jakarta administration is again under fire for its recent
\nmove to have a private firm manage on-street parking using
\nprepaid cards. The pilot project of the new system is slated to
\nbe introduced later this month in five locations: Jl. H. Agus
\nSalim in Central Jakarta, Jl. Gajah Mada in West Jakarta, Jl.
\nRaden Patah in South Jakarta, Jl. Jatinegara Timur in East
\nJakarta and Jl. Bulevar Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta beginning
\non May 26.<\/p>\n
Like previous maneuvers, the decision, which was made prior to
\nCity Council approval and public consultation, has its pros and
\ncons. From the point of view of transparency, it is not clear
\nwhether PT Adiwira Sembada was awarded the project through open
\nand fair bidding. One city councilor alleged that the company,
\nwhich was authorized to manage several on-street parking projects
\nfor years, has never performed well.<\/p>\n
In 2001, on-street parking revenue amounted to only Rp 9.28
\nbillion and increased slightly in 2002 to Rp 9.44 billion.
\nTargets, it is worth noting, were set at Rp 30 billion at the
\nlowest, based on the fact that the city has more than 4,300 on-
\nstreet parking locations that can accommodate thousands of
\nvehicles a day with fees of Rp 1,000 for a car and Rp 500 for a
\nmotorcycle.<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi, a technology expert, said that from the
\ntechnological point of view, the system is not safe and could
\neasily fail as it would rely too much on humans. Subways in Hong
\nKong and Singapore use similar systems, the difference being,
\naccording to Zatni, that the data in both those cities is
\ntransferred online in realtime, rather than manually, which means
\na minimum possibility of embezzlement.<\/p>\n
The planned prepaid card system allows parking attendants to
\nuse Handspring Visor-brand Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs),
\nreportedly costing Rp 17.15 million or some US$1,990 each. A
\ncomputer distributor, however, said a fully loaded Visor Pro only
\ncosts about $199, and to download simple software only costs
\nbetween $15 and $18. Surely, there must be someone who can
\nexplain this big discrepancy PDA price quotations.<\/p>\n
There is of course nothing wrong with the idea to apply \"high
\ntechnology\" to curb corruption that has presumably resulted in
\nthe loss of billions of rupiah in parking revenue. The problem is
\nthe readiness of the people who must run the system.<\/p>\n
There is no guarantee that the 2,500 parking attendants will
\nunderstand the technology, while no one can assure that the new
\nsystem is appropriate and will create more revenue. Improving
\nparking revenue is a question of culture, attitude, morality and
\nhabit, not technology.<\/p>\n
The decisionmakers must have disregarded the fact that, in
\nIndonesia, corruption is a matter of culture and habit. We should
\nhave learned from experience that there are always ways for
\ndishonest people to defeat high technology for the purpose of
\nillicit gain. Corruption within the parking agency has so far
\nallegedly been well organized, and employees and officials
\ninvolved are believed to be protecting each other very well.<\/p>\n
We agree with urban activist Azas Tigor Nainggolan that any
\nefforts at improving the parking system must be done with two
\nmajor objectives in mind: to ease traffic problems and to
\nincrease revenue.<\/p>\n
With the prepaid card system, it is obvious that the city
\nadministration is thinking of merely taking a shortcut to improve
\nparking revenue instead of overhauling the management of the
\nwhole parking system, including the human resources involved.
\nWhat the administration has been doing so far is comparable to
\nrevealing just a small part of the tip of the iceberg of traffic
\nmismanagement for the public to see.<\/p>\n
The chaos in the parking business in Jakarta could perhaps
\nbest be compared with a cobweb that nobody has so far managed to
\nclear. Surjadi Soedirdja, during his tenure as governor of
\nJakarta, initiated efforts to improve the management of the
\ncity's parking system, but failed for reasons that have remained
\nunexplained.<\/p>\n
As we see it, the city administration should have started by
\ngetting the priorities right. The current chaotic on-street
\nparking system must be put in order. For that purpose political
\ncourage is needed to have the web of corruption within the
\nparking agency investigated independently and in a professional
\nmanner. In other words, it is law enforcement, not high
\ntechnology, on which we should hang our hopes to stop corruption.<\/p>\n
But now that the pilot project is set to start on May 26, it
\nis difficult to see how the city administration can lawfully
\nbacktrack on its deal with PT Adiwira Sembada. We can only hope
\nthat the city administration will work harder to improve its
\nsystem of built-in control, because it is only in this way that
\nthe administration can hope to improve its public services to the
\npublic. Perhaps this is another chance for our city officials,
\nthe governor included, to make \"comparative studies\" in places
\nsuch as Singapore, Hong Kong, France, England, Germany and Korea,
\nwhere street parking is professionally managed. After all, they
\nstill have two weeks before the pilot project starts.<\/p>",
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