Motorists lodge protest against new parking fees

Motorists lodge protest against new parking fees

JAKARTA (JP): Motorists protested on Sunday at parking
operator PT Securindo Packatama for arbitrarily charging more
fees, including Value Added Tax (VAT), to current parking fees
without any prior announcement.

They were also skeptical that the private company, which is
notorious for its lack of transparency, would really submit the
tax to the Ministry of Finance's Directorate General for
Taxation.

"I don't really question the amount of the money. But the
company have never explained to the public why they have suddenly
decided to charge us more for what they claim is VAT," Corintus,
an executive at a private company, said.

"When I asked about the new fee, the parking officer just told
me to ask their head office. It's a very inadequate reply for
customers," he said, relating his experience at Le Meridien
Hotel.

The tax is usually included in the parking fees. But as of
July 1, PT Securindo has imposed it on motorists at Le Meridien
and Mandarin Oriental hotels and has rounded the price upward.

For example, if you park your car for 10 minutes, instead of
charging you Rp 1,000 for the first hour of parking plus Rp 100
tax, for the sake of "convenience" they will ask you to pay more.
The tax is still 10 percent, but the parking fee is increased to
Rp 1,300, so the total amount that you have to pay is Rp 1,500.

An official at the parking company said that they would not
bother with scrambling for coins, which could take time and
result in long queues.

The official, who asked The Jakarta Post not to publish his
name, said on Friday that PT Securindo is still contemplating
whether or not to impose the new calculation on all of their
lots. It would proceed with the new system if there was no
objection from the public, he said.

Corintus, who drives a Toyota Soluna, criticized the company
for not improving its service to motorists despite charging more.

Another motorist, Voni Suryani, also expressed her objection,
saying that many motorists do not have a high income.

Voni, an employee of an insurance company, questioned the
"extra money" collected by the company by rounding-off the fee
upward.

"Where does the money go? I wonder how much money they could
get as the company manages many parking lots here," said Voni, a
resident of Bintaro, South Jakarta, who drives a Katana jeep.

She called on the government to warn the company about
violating the current gubernatorial decree on parking fees, which
stipulates that a one-hour parking fee for cars is Rp 1,000.

City Governor Sutiyoso had once "sealed" a parking lot managed
by PT Securindo for increasing the fee far above from the
official rate.

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) also regretted the
company's decision to add VAT to parking fees, urging the company
to bear the taxes itself, instead of charging motorists extra.

Some hotels, whose parking lots are not managed by PT
Securindo, said they had no plan to impose new parking rates.

"We have no plan to increase it," an employee at Menara
Peninsula Hotel said on Sunday.

In the near future, the city administration also plans to
impose an increase in parking taxes of up to 20 percent for off-
street motorists.

So far, the City's Parking Agency (BP Parkir) only manage "on
street parking". (jun)