City threatens to halt prepaid parking scheme
City threatens to halt prepaid parking scheme
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration threatened on Wednesday to cancel its contract with private parking operator PT Adiwira Sembada which manages off and on-street parking in several areas as the firm had failed to significantly contribute to the city's income.
"I agree.... We can find another parking operator through a tender," Governor Sutiyoso told reporters at City Hall on Tuesday, commenting on a suggestion from the council to end the contract.
Head of the City Parking Management Agency Yani Mulyadi said that an independent team from the University of Indonesia had assessed the performance of PT Adiwira.
"Now we are waiting for the results of the assessment from the independent team," Yani said after a hearing with Commission B for economic affairs on Tuesday, adding that the result of its assessment would be announced early September.
He said PT Adiwira could not set a target for its contribution this year although his office had allocated Rp 2.2 billion for commission fees and its investment share in the project.
He added that the company asked for a further Rp 37 billion (US$4.3 million) from the administration to expand its prepaid card system all over the city.
The prepaid parking card to be purchased by motorists is provided by Bank Artha Graha, a bank controlled by businessman Tomy Winata.
The system is applied on Jl. Agus Salim in Central Jakarta, Jl. Raden Patah in South Jakarta, Jl. Jatinegara Timur in East Jakarta, Jl. Bulevar Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta and Jl. Gajah Mada in West Jakarta.
The contract between the administration and PT Adiwira was signed in 2001 as the company was appointed to handle a number of off-street parking areas including around the National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta, Glodok area in Central Jakarta, and Blok M in South Jakarta. The company started its operations last year.
Earlier this year, the contract was extended when the company was appointed to handle on-street parking using the prepaid system.
Commission B chairman Syarif Zulkarnaen said that prepaid parking system did not give any benefits to the administration as the company failed to contribute to the city's income.
He said that the administration set a target of Rp 32 billion to be collected from the parking fees last year, but the company was only able to contribute some Rp 13 billion.
The figure was lower than the budget allocated for the parking agency which was around Rp 15 billion.
"How could it be that the city budget has to subsidize the company tasked to collect fees from the public," said Zulkarnaen during a hearing.