'Don't burden people with new parking system'
'Don't burden people with new parking system'
The city administration plans to launch a new on-street parking
system next month in a bid to raise more parking revenue for its
coffers. Parking attendants expressed their objection as the new
system would decrease their income. They claimed that they must
give each day a percentage of the money collected from the
parking fees to city officials and police, as told to The Jakarta
Post.
Erfan, 27, is an freelance parking attendant working with his
fellow friends in Slipi Jaya, West Jakarta. He resides in
Kemanggisan, West Jakarta with his family:
As a parking attendant here, I am completely at odds with the
new system parking. The system will only harm low-income people
like me.
The city government only thinks of their own benefit without
thinking about the poor. The city officials do not consider the
opportunity for poor people.
Honestly speaking, on average I only earn around Rp 40,000, or
even less, a day. That is after I hand over around Rp 50,000 to
the local police and local community administration office
(Bimas) every day to ensure our positions here.
The new system will surely favor the city administration and
the company assigned to run the project. Besides, it is just
nonsense that the city administration gets less parking revenue.
If the city administration doesn't get any revenue from
parking, then where does the money we hand over to the local
office go then?
The problem is that there is a leakage at the top level of the
city in the revenue management. Every city resident believes that
the city administration has abundant sources of revenue collected
from the public. So, they should not burden the public further by
the new parking system just to cover the management's
irregularities.
Ade, 19, is a parking attendant on Jl. Boulevard Kelapa
Gading, North Jakarta. He resides in Cakung, East Jakarta with
his relatives:
I didn't realize that there was going to be a new parking
system in the city. But now that I do, I don't agree with
mechanism of a parking system as it will be burdensome,
particularly for parking attendants like me.
I rely on this profession to get by my in life here in the
city. My relatives basically bought the rights from the previous
group of parking attendants in this area for Rp 38 million, in
order that we could run it.
Certainly it's a big amount of money for the lucrative
business in this area. There is no time limitation here to
operate.
You can imagine how many years we have to be parking
attendants here to cover the buyout cost, if we only earn around
Rp 50,000 a day.
It's real tough to be a parking attendant. It's wrong that
many believe the parking attendants earn a lot of cash every day.
We have to hand out Rp 50,000 to the city administration a day.
If the new parking system is implemented, I wonder how we will
get cash from the motorists. So, we will not get any money to
survive due to the electronic parking meters.
Jafar, 25, is a parking attendant on Jl. Bekasi Barat, East
Jakarta. He resides in Matraman, East Jakarta, with his wife and
son:
I don't know that there will be a new parking system. However,
upon knowing how the system works, I completely disagree with
that.
It means that we will likely not get cash if we manage to use
the electronic system.
So, where could we get money then? Does it imply that the city
administration will give us a salary every month? I don't think
so and I don't want it.
People from low-income brackets like me are always in dire
need of cash money every day. A monthly salary would not work for
us here.
What about if my son gets sick and needs to see a doctor if I
don't have cash every day? I don't know the city administration's
way of making public policy but surely it always makes the public
suffer.
We only earn around Rp 30,000 a day because we have to share
three work shifts around the clock with the other fellow parking
attendants. Many really count on their income from parking here.
We don't get much now, let alone with the new system. We pay
Rp 36,000 every day to the city administration. Where does that
money go?
-- Leo Wahyudi S