Private firms to help with parking
Private firms to help with parking
JAKARTA (JP): The city parking authority, BP Parkir, has asked private companies to cooperate in managing parking in the city in an effort to increase the city's revenues from parking.
City Secretary Harun Al Rasyid said yesterday that the proposal from BP Parkir stressed the importance of involving other parties in the management of city parking.
Three private companies are interested in investing in city parking and have recently offered to manage the business under a prize system. One of them, PT Ikabina Karya Sukses, claims that, if awarded a contract, it could contribute an annual Rp 25.9 billion (US$11.77 million) to the city coffers.
However, the city administration has announced that it will not accept any proposal which offers prizes to motorists for the collection of parking fee receipts.
"There are requirements for such a prize parking system, such as an official permit from the Ministry of Social Services," Harun said.
Harun said the current system was adequate, but that "it needs a better management system."
"The proposal made by BP Parker is in line with general view of the public that it is time to include private companies in managing the parking systems," Harun said.
However, Harun refused to give details of the proposal, such as the nature of the cooperation or the private company or companies, which will be invited to work with BP Parkir.
"It is too early to announce such details because the city administration is still studying the proposal," Harun said, adding that the administration would make announcements "in due course".
The move to involve the private sector comes as the city's own parking management agency has failed to live up to expectations and amid allegations of misappropriation of funds.
BP Parkir manages most of the city's parking areas, including those along main roads and some of those on lesser roads. But the area it controls is shrinking, as more and more main roads are declared no-parking zones. In some cases the agency sub-contracts areas to local people and collects the funds at the end of the month.
The municipality set a parking fee revenue target of Rp 14.6 billion in the 1994/1995 fiscal year, which ended on March 31. In the nine months to December, BP Parkir had only raised Rp 9 billion and is likely to fall short of the target.
In 1993/1994, BP Parkir managed to collect only Rp 9 billion, well below the Rp 11.6 billion target. (yns)