City mulls hike in parking charges

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta administration will consider a proposal by off-street parking operator Secure Parking, which has requested a doubling in the current charge of Rp 2,000 (20 US cents) per hour to Rp 4,000 per hour.

Governor Sutiyoso said on Wednesday that the increase would help reduce the number of private cars on the road.

"We haven't received the proposal, but we're expecting it," he said.

Secure Parking corporate affairs director Toni Tjuaca said that the company, which controls 70 percent of the off-street parking business in the city, had to increase charges to cover its increased operating costs due to the recent fuel price hikes and the increases in the Jakarta minimum wage in 2004 and 2005.

"The most recent increase in off-street parking charges was in 2003, while the minimum wage increases every year," he said.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) criticized the Secure Parking proposal as parking was a service that should be provided free of charge by building managements to their visitors.

"Parking must not be treated as source of profit. It is a part of public service," said YLKI executive Daryatno.

The chairman of the City Council's Commission D for development affairs, Sayogo Hendrasubroto, said that Commission D had not been informed about the proposal to increase parking charges.

"But I don't see any reason why they should be increased. They (the operators) have not responded, for example, to public complaints about the security of their cars," he said.

Not surprisingly, many car owners also voiced opposition to the proposal.

"How can they ask for higher charges, while they do nothing to improve the quality of their services, particularly the security of our vehicles and the things inside them," said Farok, 38, a resident of Ciputat, in South Jakarta.

In February, Sutiyoso also proposed a 200 percent increase in on- street parking charges from Rp 1,000 to Rp 3,000 per hour. But the City Council rejected his proposal, arguing that the revenue raised from parking charges was not been accounted for transparently.