Councilor urges orderly collection of parking fees

JAKARTA (JP): A city councilor urged the city parking agency on Saturday to put in order parking attendants who collect parking fees at places which are not subject to such a collection.

Head of Commission D for development affairs Ali Wongso Sinaga said the actions of the parking attendants could be classified as breaking Gubernatorial Decree No. 761/1988 on areas subject to parking fee collection.

"The agency should not 'close its eyes' to reality. It should be proactive in handling the problem," Sinaga said.

Based on his observation, most parking attendants did not obey the existing regulation as they took parking fees at places which were forbidden for parking or not included as areas subjected to fees.

Such activities can be seen on Jl. Salemba Raya and Jl. Matraman Raya in Central Jakarta, Jl. Kebon Jeruk XX in West Jakarta and Salemba Raya in front of St. Carolus Hospital in Central Jakarta.

Zaelani, who is in charge of parking in front of the Carolus hospital, said he was aware that collecting parking fees there was allowed only between noon and 3 p.m. on Saturdays and between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on workdays, as was clearly stated on a nearby signboard. "But I take the fee all day," he said, seemingly without any sense of guilt.

"Officials of the parking agency never question it. Moreover, I am obliged to give them part of my income," he said.

Every day, Zaelani said, he was obliged to give Rp 5,000 out of an average daily income of Rp 15,000 to an agency official.

A similar situation is also conducted by his colleague Maksum, who oversees other parts of the hospital parking lot. "I have been working here since 1996 and no one has ever questioned (that he has broken the regulation)," he said.

Maksum said the amount of the "contribution" given to agency officials was different from one area to another as it was based on certain agreements with the officials.

"I am obliged to give the agency officials Rp 15,000 a day because more vehicles are parked here," he said.

Sono, a parking attendant on Jl. Kebon Jeruk XX, said that it was agency officials who appointed him to work at the area.

"They never informed me that the area is not subjected to collecting parking fees," he said.

Sinaga believed that low revenues received by the parking agency, which still needs a Rp 3.2 billion subsidy from the city administration, was caused mainly by such practices.

On the one hand, the agency complained about receiving only a limited income, but on the other hand, parking fee collection is conducted far beyond the allowable period.

In the 1999/2000 draft city budget, the agency was projected to contribute only Rp 7.8 billion to the city revenue office, while its expenditure was estimated at Rp 11 billion. (ind)