KWK suffers financial loss

JAKARTA: In a meeting with City Council Commission C for financial affairs, Koperasi Wahana Kalpika (KWK), a cooperative of public transportation owners, revealed on Monday that financial losses had forced many of its members to sell their vehicles.

"On average, five vehicles have to be sold every day because the owners cannot cover the operational costs," said La Ode Djeni Hasmar, chairman of KWK, as reported by Antara.

Hasmar said that currently, KWK managed 14,000 vehicles. "The owners cannot afford the proper maintenance for them because the cost of the original spare parts is too high. Thus they use spare parts made in Tegal (a town in Central Java) or secondhand ones," he said.

Their problems have been worsened by the fuel price hike and competitors from other kinds of public transportation such as public vehicles from other provinces, omprengan (private cars used as public transportation) and becak (pedicabs).

In the meeting Hasmar asked the administration to help finance the KWK operation, which pays Rp 28 billion (about US$3.15 million) in tax annually to the administration.--JP