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)