City Hall not informed about parking management

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Governor's office is not well informed about the cooperation between private firms and other companies in managing parking lots, a city official said yesterday.

Prawoto S. Danoemihardjo, the city's assistant secretary for economic and development affairs, said he was surprised to hear private companies managed parking lots owned by other firms.

"The practice is illegal. It also makes unclear the calculation of fees paid to the city. So far the city only cooperates directly with firms that own parking lots," he said. "I will check this out".

Prawoto was responding to the confusion in a city council meeting Tuesday about the management of parking lots.

Despite Prawoto's statements, 31 private companies, including Hero, Plaza Senayan and Kartika Chandra, have been cooperating with PT Securindo Packatama Indonesia in the management of their parking lots.

Securindo head of business development Chiko said the company had cooperated with the City Parking Office for four years.

"We pay 25 percent of our gross revenues according to rules," Chiko said, adding the company was not involved in calculating the fees.

"We pay whatever is calculated by the City Parking Office," he said.

However, he declined to respond to councilors' accusations Securindo had sold unauthorized parking tickets.

In a City Council inter-commission meeting on Tuesday, councilor Lukman F. Mokoginta of Commission D for city development said the municipality should further regulate the management of private car parks in accordance with 1994 gubernatorial decree no. 201.

The decree states all companies which own parking lots must pay 25 percent of their gross income to the City Parking office.

Lukman had said the commission had questioned PT Securindo's practice of managing 14 car parks with a permit in the company's owner's name and 17 in the company's name.

Lukman had said operating under different permits could lead to one company monopolizing the market.

He said PT Securindo had also violated the decree by selling unauthorized parking tickets.

The decree states all parking tickets must bear logos issued by the municipality as proof of authorization.

In the Tuesday meeting, the head of the City Parking Office Sumaryono said the office would urge the owner to have all the car parks under PT Securindo's permit.

"The office will not revoke the company's permit, given that it has paid its contribution," Sumaryono said.

The parking office sets an annual revenue target. Last year, the target was Rp 5 billion (US$2,1 million) which was easily met.

But Lukman said the agency's target was too low.

"The office could collect close to Rp 100 billion from private parking management if the control system was improved."

Talking about the irregularities some officials committed, he called on the government to use an online computer system to count parking spots and work out revenue targets.

Now, the agency watches a car park for a week each year to estimate its revenue. (ste/02)