Firm offers to end city parking chaos

JAKARTA (JP): A private company has offered to solve the city's parking woes and crack down on "disappearing" parking fees in a joint venture with the municipality, an official said yesterday.

Deputy Governor for Economics and Finance Harun Al Rasyid said that PT Mega Nusa Agung Makmur was the 20th company in the last nine years to lodge a proposal.

"We have not decided anything yet. But we will thoroughly examine all of the proposals. We have welcomed every proposal from private companies to manage the city's parking," he said.

Under its proposal, the company intends to develop a computerized ticketing system to prevent manipulation.

The company will also provide reasonable wages for parking attendants to prevent them from engaging in corruption or other dishonest acts.

It plans to conduct research to catalog every available parking lot and create more off-street parking to reduce traffic congestion.

Data from the city parking agency reveals that there are 2,500 parking attendants operating in the city.

When asked why it had taken the municipality so long to choose a company to manage city parking, Harun said it was a very complicated matter and many companies rescinded their offer because of the size of the task.

Harun acknowledged it was difficult to prevent parking on the streets, which contributed to heavy traffic congestion in the city.

The municipality could not force building owners or managers to build parking lots in their complexes, he said.

"We don't have the authority to make them build parking lots. The best we can do now is to consider every offer made by the private companies and decide which is the best."

Some of the companies which have proposed to manage city parking lost interest after further evaluation of the chronic parking problems, including the illegal collection of fees.

The head of the parking agency, Sumaryono, has admitted that there are no sufficient regulations to control the operation of parking attendants.

Most of the parking fees "disappear" and the city has no control over it.

Another company, PT Kartika Talang Mas, proposed a parking solution which included reimbursing motorists if their cars were stolen from parking lots.

The company -- which is 17 percent owned by the Army's Kartika Eka Paksi Foundation -- made the proposal to City Council in May last year.

The company proposed a parking fee of Rp 1,000 (0.16 U.S. cents) for the first hour and Rp 500 for subsequent hours for cars. Motorcycles would be charged a flat rate of Rp 500.

Of the initial Rp 1,000 fee for cars, Rp 500 would be used for parking, Rp 300 for insurance and Rp 200 for the National Sports Council (KONI).

The company said the sports fund would help cover the cost of training athletes.

The Rp 500 parking fee for motorcycles would comprise of Rp 300 for parking, Rp 100 for insurance and Rp 100 for KONI.

An insurance company would cover the cost of stolen or damaged vehicles at parking lots if owners reported the incident within 48 hours, the company said.

Motorists would have to show a parking ticket and their claims would have to be supported by parking attendants.

However, personal possessions and car accessories, like tape players, would not be covered.

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) had earlier voiced its support for the proposal, saying that currently there was no protection for motorists who parked their car.

City councilor Amarullah Asbah of Commission C for city revenue said that any parking proposal should prioritize motorists' safety and comfort.

"The municipality should evaluate all proposed parking schemes by private companies and select the best proposal."

He said the city should test all proposals before making a decision if necessary.

There are reportedly 2,450,000 cars and 4,238,000 motorcycles in the city.

"So I think the municipality must decide soon because parking is an issue that is getting worse every day." (edt/ind)