Council demands scrapping of city parking operator

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The City Council called on the city administration to disband city-owned parking operator BP Perparkiran on Monday, which it said has failed to collect significant revenue from on-street parking in the capital.

Council Commission B for economic affairs said in its comment on the draft of 2006 city budget that BP Perparkiran had failed to improve the condition of on-street parking.

"PB Perparkiran has failed to collect a significant amount of money from parking fees and has failed to resolve parking problems in the city. Therefore, we suggest that the body is disbanded," said Commission B spokesman Abdul Munthalib Sihab.

He called on the city administration to establish an institution under the Jakarta Transportation Agency, which will be specifically tasked to collect parking fees.

According to the commission, the city administration also should establish another agency to monitor the performance of the planned institution.

BP Perparkiran was expected to collect Rp 17.48 billion this year, but it managed to collect some Rp 15 billion only.

According to the draft of the city budget for 2006, BP Perpakiran is expected to collect some Rp 19 billion next year.

Meanwhile, data issued by BP Perparkiran showed that the city has to subsidize their operations.

BP Perparkiran's spending reached Rp 15.09 billion (US$1.5 million) last year, while its revenue from fee collection reached only Rp 14.16 billion. Its expenditure was Rp 15.80 billion in 2003, while its revenue was Rp 15.46 billion, while in 2002, the spending was Rp 17.52 billion and revenue Rp 14.77 billion.

According to Gubernatorial Decree No. 177/2002 on street parking, there are 517 street parking locations in the capital that can accommodate 13,185 vehicles.

Observers suggested that many locations were illegally used as parking lots, but the money did not go to city administration.

They said that the money went to thugs and certain police officers who gave protection to illegal parting attendants.

In a recent discussion, Iwan, a resident of Setiabudi, South Jakarta, said that an area near his house could accommodate some 120 vehicles.

The parking lot is manned by illegal parking attendants, who are required to pay Rp 200,000 daily as protection money.

Iwan said that those who protected the racket were required to pay Rp 100,000 daily to an unidentified person so that the illegal business could take place smoothly.

Chairman of the Jakarta Residents' Forum (Fakta) Azas Tigor Nainggolan said that based on his organization's calculation, the potential for the collection of on-street parking fees was some Rp 100 billion each year, considering that there are around four million private vehicles in the capital.

Head of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) transportation division Daryatmo said that the collection of parking fees in the legally zoned parking areas was also not efficient.

Daryatmo said that lack of transparency in the parking fee collection may be perpetuated by BP Perpakiran officials because they benefited from the situation.