Councilors say put parking in hands of private firms
JAKARTA (JP): Councilors said on Thursday city agency BP Parkir should hand over management of the city's parking to private firms if it failed to improve its record by April.
"It's better to delegate management of the city's parking to private firms since they would certainly contribute to the city's income," Sayogo Hendrosubroto, head of the council's Commission D for Development Affairs, said after a hearing with executives of BP Parkir at the council building.
He said one private firm, PT Sani Sukses Abadi, guaranteed the city Rp 24 billion (US$3.4 million) annually if it handled the city's parking management.
He said that according to the proposal, the firm also would contribute Rp 1.5 billion a month to the parking agency.
"We'll consider the firm's proposal because BP Parkir has repeatedly been the target of public criticism for its failure to contribute to the city's income," Sayogo, a councilor from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), said.
Faced with the daunting task of improving its image and performance, the parking agency will introduce a sympathy campaign which will run from January to March. The campaign will require all parking attendants to improve their friendliness and job performance.
"If the agency fails with the campaign, it should let private investors take over the parking management," Sayogo said.
Councilor Tjuk Sudono from the National Mandate Party (PAN) said privatizing parking management would decrease the leakage in the parking agency.
"The privitization of parking management will not only increase the city's income, but also improve the agency's service to the public," he said.
BP Parkir will earn an estimated Rp 7.2 billion this fiscal year, but still will require a subsidy from the city administration to cover its Rp 10.2 billion in expenses.
Tjuk said the sympathy campaign would not solve the complicated problem of financial leakage in the agency.
"It's strange that the agency suffered losses. Logically, the agency should not suffer anything, even if parking was free of charge," he laughed.
The city administration issued a bylaw increasing parking fees to between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000 from the current prices of between Rp 300 and Rp 500. The increase will take effect on Jan. 1, 2000.
The secretary of the team which would select the private firms, Sukri Bey, said the city administration would ask outside investors to manage the parking agency.
"We will conduct an open bid to select the private investors," Sukri, who also is an executive of the city's economic supervisory department, said after the hearing.
He said private investors would handle parking management, but the day-to-day work would continue to be handled by the agency's employees.
"So there will be no dismissals," he said. (jun)