Motorists enjoy free parking facilities
JAKARTA (JP): While a parking dispute is being tried at the Jakarta State Administrative Court, motorists can enjoy free parking at several private parking lots until a ruling is issued on the case.
As of Thursday, hundreds of visitors at Taman Anggrek Mall in West Jakarta, Medistra Hospital and Plaza Kuningan in South Jakarta were surprised when parking attendants allowed them to leave without paying for parking.
At Taman Anggrek Mall, motorists were surprised to see attendants rejecting payments for parking, even though they offered money.
The attendants' actions made many motorists leave parking areas bewildered.
"I was surprised. But I'm grateful anyway that there is no need for me to pay any parking fees," said motorist Benjamin from Central Jakarta.
The official parking fee for a vehicle is Rp 200, but the mall charges visitors Rp 500 per hour.
At Plaza Kuningan and Medistra Hospital, security officials, who are also in charge of parking, gave out parking tickets to motorists as usual. But when vehicles were driven off the lot, the guards only asked for the tickets back and not any fees.
"We have not charged visitors since Tuesday. Dozens of city administration officials and the city police came to the building on Monday night and sealed off the booths of the parking lots," said Ngadino, a senior security officer at Plaza Kuningan.
Hasbullah, a parking attendant at Taman Anggrek Mall, said the parking operator for the building, PT Mulia Inti Pelangi, had decided to free motorists from all parking charges since Wednesday.
"The officials sealed off the equipment at the building on Tuesday night. Parking was free on Wednesday and today (Thursday), but we don't know about tomorrow," he said.
The city administration sealed off the equipment of three parking lots on Monday and Tuesday respectively as they had failed to adjust their parking fees in conjunction with official fees as stipulated in City Bylaw No. 5/1999 on parking, which is to be enforced by the end of May at the latest.
Gubernatorial Decree No. 1698/1999 stipulates that parking fees for cars are to be set at Rp 1,000 (13 US cents) for the first two hours and Rp 500 for each hour thereafter.
The city administration has so far sealed off the equipment of four parking lots: Taman Anggrek Mall, Medistra Hospital, Plaza Kuningan and PT Adi Graha.
The city administration is serious with its efforts to ensure operators comply with the city bylaw, and it has produced two posters, which are displayed at strategic areas on parking sites. The first poster is a parking policy announcement and the second warns defiant operators.
Plaza Kuningan, for example, violated the ruling by setting parking fees for cars at Rp 1,500 for the first two hours and Rp 500 for each successive hour.
Strict measures were taken at Taman Anggrek Mall as officials stuck posters on computers and parking ticket dispensers in the building's Blue Zone-P2 parking lot, which is the main gate of the building.
Despite the two posters, another was issued by the Jakarta State Administrative Court, saying the city administration could not take any measures, including sealing off equipment, as the case was being tried at court.
The notice was signed by the case's presiding judge, Arpani Mansur.
A security officer at Plaza Kuningan denied any knowledge over the notice, which was next to the other two posters.
William Gunawan, a visitor at Plaza Kuningan, supported the administration's bid to punish defiant operators.
"Although the former parking fee wasn't expensive for me, it is good if the administration insists on maintaining an official fee," he said.
City parking agency chief Yani Mulyadi told Antara news agency on Wednesday that the city administration would seal off the equipment at three other parking lots in the near future. (09/asa)