City Council demands annulment of `illegal' parking fee hikes
City Council demands annulment of `illegal' parking fee hikes
Bambang Nurbianto and Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta administration and the City Council rejected on
Tuesday as illegal a decision by private parking operators to
raise the charges for off-street parking in buildings by up to
100 percent.
They demanded that the Private Parking Operators
Communications Forum (FKPPS) and buildings in Jakarta that have
implemented the new charges cancel the hikes.
"These parking charge increases are illegal as they have not
been approved by the city administration or the council," the
chairman of the city parking board (BP Parkir), Yani Mulyadi,
said.
He admitted that the FKPPS had requested the increases in
parking charges, but his board had turned them down.
Under Article 199 of Bylaw No. 03/1999, the collection of
local government charges by private organizations must obtain
approval from the governor and city council.
Yani said he would only send a reprimand to the parking
operators over their unilateral decision to increase off-street
parking charges, but councillors said the move would not be
enough as the illegality of the action was clear.
The secretary of the City Council's Commission B for economic
affairs, Dani Anwar, said the city administration should force
the parking operators to annul the decision immediately.
"Sutiyoso should be upset by this illegal act as the parking
operators have insulted his authority," said Dani, who is a
councillor from the Justice Party (PK).
Similarly, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) councillor Batu Tahan Marpaung said the his
Commission B would summon the relevant officials and FKPPS
executives to clarify the reasons behind the increase.
He demanded that the city administration take firm action
against the parking operators over the "illegal" hike.
Under the new policy, effective since Monday, parking charges
were raised from between Rp 1,000 and Rp 1,500 to Rp 2,000 per
hour for cars, and from Rp 500 to Rp 1,000 per hour for
motorcycles.
FKPPS chairman Bernanto Soerojo said in a statement on Friday
that the increases were in response to Bylaw No. 6/2002 on the
imposition of a 20 percent tax on private parking operators
beginning this month.
The rises would cover the recent increases in electricity,
telephone, water and building maintenance charges.
Meanwhile, spokesman for the Indonesian Consumers Foundation
(YLKI), Daryatmo, told the Post that the increases in parking
charges should be followed by better service for consumers.
"What are the off-street parking users getting by paying more
-- not to mention that the operators still state that they are
not responsible for any damage to or loss of parked cars?" he
said.
The administration must make it official that operators should
be responsible for anything that happens to a car in the areas
they control, he said.
Even if an operator considered the service it provided as
renting out parking space instead of a security business, it
still should be accountable for the loss of a car as this could
only happen through the negligence of the operator, he said.