City Council shuns proposal to raise hourly parking rate
City Council shuns proposal to raise hourly parking rate
JAKARTA (JP): City Council has rejected the administration's
proposal to increase parking fees by about 65 percent -- from Rp
300 (nine U.S. cents) per hour to between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000 --
a councilor said yesterday.
Councilor Asrul Harun of Commission C for financial affairs
said the decision was reached during a plenary session with
officials from the Jakarta Parking Agency last week.
He said there was no need for the municipality to jack up
parking fees.
"Without raising the parking tariffs, the usual fees that are
imposed are already set between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000."
Parking fees collected by either city personnel or employees
of commercial buildings in Jakarta are already fixed in the same
way as the proposed tariffs.
According to City Bylaw No. 2/1979, the official parking fee
is Rp 300 per hour per car and Rp 200 for motorcycles.
Despite rejecting the fee increase, the commission is seeking
to classify parking areas with the city's parking agency, Asrul
said.
The best way to improve the parking system is to impose a
parking fee based on use, he said.
"There should be a certain classification. For instance,
parking fees in busy areas should be set at Rp 500 per half hour
per vehicle, while those in not so busy areas are Rp 300 per half
hour," he said. "There should be certain free parking areas too,
such as the National Monument (Monas) park and hospitals."
The parking agency's head, Sumaryono, said that his agency was
reviewing all possibilities proposed by the councilors.
"We will accommodate all suggestions. The classification idea
is good, and actually we are planning to make classifications
based on the amount of spaces used by the vehicles."
For instance, a vehicle that uses a five-meter-long space will
attract a Rp 1,000 per hour fee while smaller vehicles will be
billed only Rp 500 per hour, he added.
"But the plan is flexible. If the councilors have a better
idea, we will be glad to compromise."
Asrul said the most important thing was fixing the Jakarta
Parking Agency's management to prevent officials from
manipulating the system and collecting "illegal" parking fees.
"The agency has failed to meet its target of Rp 23 billion in
parking fees for the 1996/1997 fiscal year. Instead, it managed
to collect only Rp 18 billion."
Asrul said the agency's inability to meet its target was
mainly due to poor management and a lack of human resources.
"The parking problem in the city is becoming increasingly
complicated. There are too many interested parties involved
here," he said.
"Many of the agency's employees do nothing, they ask other
people to do their jobs and later give part of the collected fees
to them."
That is why most of the collected fees are "evaporating", he
said.
Raising the tariffs will not help the municipality, unless the
agency makes significant improvements in services by, for
instance, managing the fees collected, he said.
The parking agency was the target of widespread criticism when
it announced a plan to increase the fee to Rp 5,000 per hour.
The agency argued that the controversial plan, which was later
scrapped, was designed to deter people from using their cars and
therefore reduce traffic congestion in the city. (07)