Private parking operators oppose plan to cut rate

JAKARTA (JP): Operators of privately owned shopping centers strongly opposed on Tuesday the city administration's plan to order the management of all private parking lots, such as those at shopping complexes, to lower their parking fees from next Monday.

Contacted separately on Tuesday, executives of the Indonesian Association of Shopping Complex Management (APPBI) and its Jakarta chapter insisted that neither the city administration, nor the central government, had a legal basis to force the private sector to do such thing.

"We reject the call. The government has the authority to rule on parking only in public areas, not in privately owned places, such as at shopping malls and office buildings," APPBI chairman M. Shohirin said.

APPBI chairman of the Jakarta chapter Stephanus Ridwan said the 1997 Law on Retribution and Taxes number 18 "prohibits the authorities to regulate private parking management."

An executive of Blok M Plaza in South Jakarta, Stephanus, said members of his association were ready to discuss the dispute in a round table meeting with the city administration and councilors soon.

"But, if it fails, we'll sue them through the State Administrative Court," he said.

Deputy Governor for Economic and Finance Affairs Fauzi Alvi Yasin was quoted by Kompas as saying on Monday night during a gathering with 162 representatives of the management of parking lots that the city administration wanted operators or owners of parking lots in private places to set the parking rate at Rp 1,000 for the first two hours and Rp 500 for each following hour as per May 1.

The call, he said, was in line with the 1999 City Bylaw number 5 issued on Sept. 24 last year on parking issues.

"We ask the management of all private parking lots to obey the bylaw," Fauzi said.

He said motorists were allowed from now on to reject parking fees set by the management of private parking lots which exceeded the rates stipulated in the bylaw.

The management of many private parking lots at office buildings, shopping complexes and hotels in the capital have set different tariffs, all of them much higher than the official rate, for parking. On average, most of them set the price at least double that of the official rate.

The public has repeatedly complained about the matter, also saying that the management were not willing to pay compensation for any bad things which happened to the parked vehicles.

According to Shohirin, his association condemned the government's bid, saying that the city administration only aimed at gaining additional revenue from the policy.

"It's an old paradigm. The government also wants to regulate the private sector, in which the final target is money," he said.

An executive of the parking management at Plaza Indonesia, Iskandar Himawan, joined the chorus, saying that the parking fees in the capital should be different from one place to another.

Otherwise, he said, Plaza Indonesia would suffer major losses if the plan took effect because the management had to pay for electricity, security and the tidiness of the parking lots inside the building.

"The rates should be different. The parking fees in Mangga Besar, for example, are lower than the rate since the parking lots are located next to the main street," Iskandar said.

Separately, the head of the City Parking Agency, Yani Mulyadi, told reporters on Tuesday that his office would soon form a special team, comprising representatives of the city officials, private parking managements and other elements, such as executives of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), which would help promote the plan.

The team, he said, would mold input coming from parties involved concerning the procedure and probation period.

Yani stressed that the city administration had initiated regulations on parking because basically all building owners should clearly define the parking lot area for tenants and visitors before they obtained the building permits.

"Parking lots in building compounds are imperative. They are called supportive parking lots and cars parked in them should not be subject to fees," he said.

Private companies, he said, had apparently managed the parking areas commercially, so that the city administration had to create a regulation to limit the rates.

"Unless if a company sets up an area aside from the supportive parking lot in the compound and is especially designed for parking, they could decide the fees on their own," Yani said. (asa/06)