Parking agency needs Rp 3b subsidy: Official
Parking agency needs Rp 3b subsidy: Official
JAKARTA (JP): City parking management agency BP Parkir still
needs a Rp 3 billion (US$441,176) subsidy in the 1999/2000 fiscal
year from the city administration to cover operational expenses,
an official said on Friday.
BP Parkir head Yani Mulyadi said the money was needed to cover
the shortfall from expenditures of Rp 10.2 billion and revenues
of Rp 7.2 billion for the current fiscal year.
"We admit that BP Parkir is unsound. Many people criticize us
as a bad firm, but for the time being we can do nothing to
contribute a share to the city's income."
He said Rp 7 billion of the expenditure was earmarked for
wages for the agency's 1,189 permanent workers and 2,138
temporary workers.
The remaining Rp 3.2 billion would be used to buy new street
signs and parking attendants' equipment, including new uniforms,
he added.
Yani blamed the deficit on a "lack of coordination".
"There are still leakages in parking revenue as parking
attendants took most of the income and reported only half of it."
He said the agency calculated that a parking attendant
submitted between Rp 6,000 and Rp 10,000 a day, while the actual
total was closer to Rp 20,000 and Rp 30,000.
To avoid more losses, Yani said, the agency would offer
retirement to workers 56 years and older. The retirement age is
55 but many employees continue to work.
"We are thinking of providing appropriate compensation since
they are not civil servants." He declined to mention the number
of workers included in the retirement offer.
He said the agency estimated revenue of Rp 24 billion in the
2000/20001 fiscal year but he did not state expected expenditure
for the next fiscal year.
He said parking fees would be increased to between Rp 500 and
Rp 1,000 from the current rate of between Rp 300 and Rp 500,
starting on Jan. 1, 2000.
"We will also launch a sympathy campaign in which our parking
attendants will be required to improve their behavior, such as
greeting motorists."
He said the city administration was planning to invite private
investors to manage the city's parking, hoping that the investors
could contribute to the city's income.
The request for the subsidy was challenged by councilor M.
Agus Darmawan of the National Mandate Party.
"It doesn't make any sense. I have never found parking
agencies suffering losses in other countries," said the member of
the council's commission B for economics affairs.
He agreed with a proposal for the parking management to be
handed over to private firms if BP Parkir could not contribute to
the city's income.
He regretted that BP Parkir administrators repeatedly blaming
the parking attendants for loss of income instead of admitting
their inability to manage the agency.
He said the behavioral campaign would not solve the problem in
the parking agency.
Governor Sutiyoso earlier asked the parking body to improve
its performance, warning he would no longer provide a subsidy.
(jun)