Registering vehicles at banks not mandatory
Registering vehicles at banks not mandatory
JAKARTA (JP): City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo said the government had no intention of forcing people to use the services of a company it has appointed to process vehicle registration documents.
Dibyo said that people are free to use the services of PT Sakra Bima Mandala Persada or extend their vehicle registrations themselves at the traffic police office.
"There is no rule that people must pay their vehicle tax through the company," he said at the city council Thursday.
According to Dibyo, the company -- whose chief commissioner is businessman Hutama Mandala Putra -- is no different from other privately-owned firms offering similar services in the city, including those operating at the City Police Headquarters.
"They're similar," said Dibyo, a former adjutant to President Soeharto.
PT Sakra Bima has opened a total of 53 customer service counters at seven private banks and the city-owned Bank DKI in Jakarta.
The procedures in obtaining vehicle registration documents has not changed at all, Dibyo said.
"Under the new system, applicants don't have to form long lines at police offices because they can pay the administration fee through the banks," he explained.
The firm started the business in late 1993 in cooperation with Bank DKI. Last week it expanded its network services by opening more service counters in Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi and Depok in cooperation with seven private banks.
Applicants have to pay administration fees of about Rp 10,000 (US$4.50) for the processing of motorcycle registration documents and about Rp 20,000 for car registration documents, depending on the type and model.
PT Sakra Bima also plans to increase its service counters in Jakarta and surrounding areas to 100 by next year and is considering expanding its services nationwide.
Executives of the company have refused to disclose the precise amount of commission the firm has to pay the City Police department.
"It's no good disclosing it," the company's president Bimo Pramudyo told reporters on Wednesday.
The company has estimated it can accommodate around 6,000 applicants daily. "But so far, we only process about 750 documents a day," he said.
Many people still flock to the heated and crowded room at the city police office. Some are wary of the using new company.
"I worry about the safety of my documents as I heard that they (PT Sakra Bima) do not guarantee the safety of papers," an applicant was quoted by Antara as saying.
Others have found that the processing documents at the company is more complicated than at police headquarters. (bsr)