Parking lot subsidy questioned

Parking lot subsidy questioned

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city council questioned on Tuesday the allocation of Rp 20
billion (US$2.2 million) from the 2003 city budget, which it
approved last week, to subsidize the city parking body (BP
Parkir) because it works in cooperation with a private parking
operator.

"BP Parkir should no longer need such huge subsidies as it has
cooperated with a private company to manage the city's parking,"
councillor Dani Anwar of the council commission B for economic
affairs said during a hearing with the parking body and its
partner firm.

Dani of the Justice Party suggested a review of its
cooperation arrangement with parking operator PT Adiwira Sembada
if their profits were not being shared with BP Parkir.

The councillor's question seemed odd as the city budget, which
amounted to Rp 11.075 billion--including its allocation for BP
Parkir, was already approved by himself and his fellow
councillors last Friday.

PT Adiwira was appointed to manage the city's off-street
parking in 2001 and started operating last year. BP Parkir
defines off-street parking as parking garages or open space. In
the cooperation contract, the company is obliged to contribute Rp
12 billion in the first year of the arrangement.

PT Adiwira's president Prihusanto stated that the cooperation
with BP Parkir had significantly increased income for some of the
city's parking lots.

"Monas parking lot which only contributed Rp 200 million a
month in past years, last year contributed Rp 600 million a
month," Prihusanto said during the hearing.

Separately, the City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya revealed that
some Rp 15 billion of the Rp 20 billion subsidy would be used to
meet the payroll expenses for the city's 15,000 parking
attendants.

"We could not give all the management of the off-street
parking to the private companies since too many people would lose
their jobs, even though it would be more efficient," Ritola told
reporters at City Hall.

He said the remaining Rp 5 billion of the Rp 20 billion would
be used as "working capital" in the cooperation with PT Adiwira.

However, he admitted that PT Adiwira had only contributed 60
percent of its Rp 12 billion commitment as stated in the contract
last year.

"We will evaluate the cooperation with the company. We could
cancel it if it causes losses," Ritola said.

The appointment of PT Adiwira from among four parking
operators to manage the city's off-street parking in 2001
triggered a conflict among some councillors with a high level of
interest in the concession.

The tender to manage the off-street parking was supposedly an
open competition between PT Adiwira, PT Mega Masagena Nusantara,
PT Rodial Indonesia and PT Sumber Batu.

The council earlier asked the administration to cancel the
sole parking concession to PT Adiwira, suggesting that it should
be managed by both PT Adiwira and PT Mega.

However, Governor Sutiyoso appointed only PT Adiwira, which
was reportedly linked to certain councillors from the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle.