Private parking operators threaten to sue government

Private parking operators threaten to sue government

JAKARTA (JP): Operators of privately owned shopping centers
warned on Wednesday that they would sue the city administration
if it went ahead with its plan to close down the city's private
parking lots for their failure to adjust their parking fees in
tandem with official fees by June 1.

"We'll file a lawsuit with the Jakarta State Administrative
Court against the city administration if it insists on closing
down the parking lots," said Stefanus Ridwan, chairman of the
Jakarta Chapter of the Indonesian Association of Shopping Complex
Management (APPBI).

The city administration announced on Tuesday a plan to close
the private parking lots, if the operators failed to adjust their
fees set by the administration as regulated in the City Bylaw No.
5/1999 on Parking.

Stefanus said the administration did not have the authority to
enforce the bylaw, calling the bylaw unlawful.

"The bylaw allows the city administration to regulate private
parking lots. However, it is against Government Regulation No.
20/1997 on Provincial/Mayoralty Retribution," he told The Jakarta
Post at his office.

He said the government regulation prohibited the
administration to "interfere" with management of private parking
lots.

"Article 3 of the government regulation rules that the
administration manages parking lots which are owned and operated
by the administration, but not ones run by private parking
operators," he said.

Stefanus said the administration should let the parking lot
management be controlled by the market.

"It is not healthy if the government intervenes in the market,
since it will lead to high costs, including illegal levies," he
said.

He said people would grab the advantages if the administration
let the market mechanism prevail in the parking business.

"Indeed, some operators may set higher fees for parking, but
automatically they will add additional facilities for the
consumers' conveniences to win the competition among operators,"
he said, adding that it might include the placement of CCTVs
(Close Circuit Televisions) or air conditioners in the parking
lots.

He accused the city administration of being inconsistent.

"We met city administration officials on Tuesday night, and
they agreed to discuss the fees on Friday.

"But, city administration officials made a statement in the
media against the initial agreement," he said, while referring to
the administration's threat to close the parking lots of
disobedient private parking operators as of June 1.

Assistant to City Secretary on Administrative Affairs, Ma'mun
Amin, said on Tuesday the administration postponed the deadline
for the private parking operators so they could adjust their
parking tariff with the tariff set by the bylaw.

The deadline was extended from May 1 to June 1.

The ruling was issued in response to a statement by Deputy
Governor for Economic and Finance Affairs Fauzi Alvi Yasin on
April 24, that the administration wanted the parking operators in
private places to set parking rates at Rp 1,000 for the first
hour and Rp 1,000 for each following hour as of May 1.

In obedience to the ruling, the Pasaraya shopping center in
South Jakarta's Blok M area has lowered its parking tariff since
May 1.

Previously, the shopping center set the parking tariff at Rp
2,000 for the first hour and Rp 1,000 for each following hour.

"We decided to follow the administration's ruling on April 24
and adjust the tariff," Maya Rahmayanti, Public Relations Manager
of the company, said. (asa)