Councilors say put parking in hands of private firms
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)