Old parking system to return, attendants' wages to increase

JAKARTA (JP): In conjunction with the implementation of new parking fees on Thursday, the city administration has decided to reimpose the old parking system and introduce new wages for attendants, an official said on Wednesday.

"The City Parking Agency has decided to abandon its trial system, which involved parking attendants and fee collectors in the city's five mayoralties.

"We will no longer hire fee collectors, so the parking attendants will also be responsible for collecting the fees as they used to in the past," agency head Yani Mulyadi told reporters.

He said the agency would, however, implement a new wage system for the parking attendants.

"The new wage system will be slightly different from the system introduced during the trial period," he said.

With the new system, parking attendants will receive Rp 10,000 (about US$1.50) a day if they sell a certain quota of tickets. They will receive a bonus if their income for the day can surpass the quota.

"They will receive a bonus, the amount of which is set at 30 percent of the surplus.

"On the contrary, if they fail to meet the quota, they will be penalized with a deduction of Rp 50 per ticket from their daily wage," Yani said.

During the trial period, parking attendants received Rp 50 per ticket without any enforced quota.

Residents will have to pay more when they park their vehicles starting on Thursday because of the enactment of new parking fees by the city administration.

The city administration has targeted that the City Parking Agency receive more than Rp 16 billion ($2.13 million) from parking fees in the 2000 city budget. The administration has set a target of Rp 9 billion for the 1999/2000 fiscal year, but only Rp 6 billion has been obtained.

The parking fees will be increased from Rp 300 to Rp 1,000 on busy streets and to Rp 500 on less busy streets.

The agency is known for its long-running deficit, although many observers and city councillors have doubted the seriousness of the situation. More than Rp 14 billion is needed to cover operational costs, including Rp 8 billion for the salaries of 1,050 administration staff members and 2,129 parking attendants.

Only administration staff members receive monthly salaries, while parking attendants receive a share of their daily parking fees.

Governor Sutiyoso was displeased with the deficit and has ordered Yani to restructure his agency.

"We don't need such a large administration staff. They do practically nothing yet they receive a bigger share than the parking attendants," he said. (nvn)