Secure Parking company tight-lipped about success

Secure Parking company tight-lipped about success

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): If you park your car in a big shopping mall, an
apartment complex or a starred hotel here, it is likely that you
will be met by the smiling faces of Secure Parking staff, replete
with their computerized system.

But don't ask about the company.

Although many have praised the company's service, property
owners among them, PT Securindo Packatama Indonesia, Secure
Parking's managing company, is not willing to discuss details of
their parking business.

Director Rustam Rachmat said in a brief letter to The Jakarta
Post on Thursday: "For the time being, we choose not to publicize
our company.

"We'll contact you in the future if the chance for publicity
is still open to us."

The company's silence might confirm the suspicion that the
parking business is a gold mine for Securindo Packatama
Indonesia, and one that it wants to keep secret.

The less conspiratorial among us might think the company has
remained tight lipped to avoid exacerbating tension between
property owners and officials from the Jakarta Parking Management
Agency.

"The agency's officials are becoming increasingly upset as
more and more of the capital's site managers opt for the services
of Secure Parking rather than have to deal with the parking
agency," a shopping center executive said, asking to remain
anonymous.

The possibility to exercise this choice has been brought about
by Law No. 18/1997, which ended the city administration's right
to collect certain taxes and levies, including parking fees.

A 1997 issue of Tiara magazine listed Secure Parking as an
Australian firm which specializes in providing comprehensive
parking services. The company first entered in Indonesia in 1996,
and beyond that very little is known about their operations.

The vast parking lots beneath and around the Hilton hotel and
apartments, Sogo Department Store, Plaza Senayan, Mega Mal Pluit,
Hero supermarkets, Radisson Hotel and Atap Merah apartment and
shopping complex are just a few buildings that employ Secure
Parking's services in Jakarta.

Saripin of the Atap Merah shop-house complex, which is located
on Jl. Pecenongan in Central Jakarta, revealed that the complex
management charges Secure Parking a monthly fee of Rp 5.5 million
to look after their parking.

"The more Secure Parking collects in fares, the more money
they can earn," he said.

Secure Parking were unable to meet their monthly dues during
the month of May, when the company's booths and computers were
badly damaged and parking revenues fell sharply. He recalled that
the company asked Atap Merah's management to waive their fee for
that month, a request that was eventually agreed to.

"Besides the drastic drop in their earnings, their booths and
computers were also damaged," Sapirin said, adding: "We finally
met their request."

Secure Parking offers different systems to suit its clients'
needs.

The company also charges motorists according to the location.
In Plaza Senayan, the hourly rate is Rp 1,000.

Abdul Rahman, Secure Parking's assistant site manager for the
3,000-car parking lot at Plaza Senayan, said the tariff was
determined by the shopping center's management.

"We're just the organizer," he said.

The official parking fee set by the Jakarta administration is
Rp 300 per hour.

Dewi Widiyanti, public relations manager for the Hilton Hotel,
said the hotel had used Secure Parking since July 1996.

"We chose their service because they already had a good name
and we can trust them because of their professional performance,"
she said.

"They handle everything related to parking here, including the
traffic and security system. It's also Secure Parking that
manages the parking permits," Dewi said.

"There is a total of 180 Secure Parking employees who work
here at the Hilton," she added.

Dewi refused to disclose details of the contract between the
hotel and the parking company.

Effendy Hartono, an executive of four-star Radisson Hotel,
remained similarly tight-lipped, only saying that traffic signs,
routes, cleanliness and the parking system were the
responsibility of Secure Parking.

"Besides that, staff are required to follow hotel regulations
with regards to how to treat guests and so on," Effendy said.

Even though Secure Parking offers a good service, not all
property management companies in the capital choose to use its
services.

Ciputra Mal in West Jakarta and Plaza Blok M in South Jakarta
are two such examples.

"Secure Parking has come to us with their proposals. But we
think that our existing system and staff are still the best for
us in term of earnings.

"Besides, we don't want to fire our own parking staff during
such difficult times," Stefanus Ridwan, the general manager of PT
Pakuwon Subentra Anggraini that manages Blok M Plaza said.

Ciputra Mal general manager Sugwantono said his mall had
received proposals from at least 10 parking service providers,
including Secure Parking.

"So far, we're still evaluating the proposals because we also
have to think about the fate of our own parking staff. Where will
we transfer them to if we contract an outside company?" he said.