City agency plans hike in parking fees
City agency plans hike in parking fees
JAKARTA (JP): The parking fees in some city areas will
increase by between 100 and 500 percent, if a City Parking Agency
proposal goes ahead.
The City Parking Agency announced details of the plan
yesterday.
In areas that charge progressive fees, the first hour will
rise from Rp 1,000 (US$0.40) to Rp 5,000 in some locations.
If the plan is approved, fees for parking in the streets or
spaces managed by the city will rise by 100 percent.
Fees for parking cars increased from Rp 500 to Rp 1,000,
trucks from Rp 1,000 to Rp 2,000, and motorcycles from Rp 100 to
Rp 200.
City Secretary Harun Al Rasyid said the plan was not final and
the agency was still open to suggestions from the public and the
City Council.
He said the plan was intended to solve traffic problems in the
city, and the increased parking revenue would pay for the
building of new car parks.
"The main purpose is to curb the use of private cars in the
city," Harun said yesterday.
The city parking agency plan requires all commercial buildings
to provide parking areas or spaces as determined by the governor.
If owners of commercial buildings could not provide space, they
should arrange space in other buildings.
Companies not providing the spaces required should pay the
administration a fee as set by the governor in consultation with
the City Council. This fee would be used to build parking spaces.
City parking providers would be given the right to participate
in managing the spaces.
In the plan, transferring the management of parking spaces to
other people or companies is not allowed without written approval
from the governor.
Commercial buildings, which provide parking spaces, should
have permits from the governor.
The plan ruled all parking space managements should pay fees
ranged from Rp 50,000 to Rp 200,000 based on the number of
available spaces, and 25 percent of parking fees as determined by
the governor.
Harun said some places determined by the governor, such as
historical buildings, were not obliged to provide parking spaces.
He admitted the agency could not guarantee there would be no
leak in fees collection.
He said as soon as the proposal was approved the agency would
need to improve its performance, such as by imposing stricter
control on fees collection.
The City Parking Agency has been under fire for several years
for its inability to reach its revenue collection target.
In the 1995/96 fiscal year, the agency collected Rp 11
billion, Rp 5 billion less than expected. In 1994/95, it
collected Rp 11.5 billion, Rp 3.1 billion less than expected.
Councilor Helmy AR Syihab estimated earlier that parking
agencies could collect Rp 43 billion per year from only 400,000
cars parked once a day, with fees of Rp 300 each.
A widely recognized problem in parking fees collection is the
reluctance of parking attendants to hand over receipts in return
for fees from motorists.
Jakarta's population of more than nine million people owned
2,165,200 vehicles. (ste)