Operator revokes parking fee increase

Damar Harsanto and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city's largest parking operator, Secure Parking, announced on Friday that it had begun to roll back a recent off-street parking rate increase.

"We were instructed by the owners of the property where we operate to resume the Rp 1,000 (12 US cents) hourly parking rate starting today (Friday)," Secure Parking managing director Rustam Rachmat said.

The rate increase is being rolled back gradually, according to the policies of the different property owners.

However, motorists will still be subject to an additional tax of 20 percent, said Secure Parking general affairs manager Tony Tjuatja.

"This is in line with Bylaw No. 6/2002, Chapter 2, Article 4, on taxing parking rates," he said.

Tony named several shopping centers he said had already reverted to the old parking rates. They were Plaza Indonesia, Mal Pondok Indah, Blok M Plaza and Mal Ciputra.

However, Ellen, 24, said she had to pay Rp 1,500 an hour when she parked at Blok M Plaza in South Jakarta on Friday. She was unaware of the decision by the parking operator to roll back the increase.

"Is it (the parking rate) supposed to go down? Then why I still had to pay Rp 1,500 if it took effect last night," she said.

Secure Parking had increased rates by up to 100 percent from Rp 1,000 to Rp 2,000 an hour for cars and from Rp 500 to Rp 1,000 an hour for motorcycles.

The hike sparked criticism from the public and the City Council, who demanded the decision be revoked. Councillors said the hike breached several regulations, including Gubernatorial Decree No. 1698/1999 which sets the parking rates at Rp 1,000 per hour for cars and Rp 500 per hour for motorcycles.

Rustam put the blame for the rate hike on the Communication Forum for Private Parking Operators. Members of the forum include the Association of Indonesian Shopping Center Owners, the Association of Indonesian Retailers, the Association of Indonesian Property Managements, the Association of Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Owners and the Indonesian Real Estate Association.

"It was the forum that made the decision, not us. We're just the parking operator," Rustam said.

Secure Parking, a joint venture between local and Australian companies, runs about 116 parking lots, or over 50 percent of all lots in the city.

Separately, Governor Sutiyoso said he would summon the building owners and "tell them to respect the law and decrease the parking rates", although the rate increase took effect in early June.

"If they don't (decrease rates) they will suffer more losses, because we will take stern action against them," he said on Friday without elaborating on what form this "stern" action might take.

Sutiyoso's comments were markedly different from earlier statements, when he said off-street parking rates were decided by market forces and he could do nothing about them.

Sutiyoso also said any changes in the off-street parking rates should be jointly decided by himself and the council, complaining Secure Parking never proposed the rate increase to the city administration.