Secure Parking to cancel rate increase
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Secure Parking, the largest off-street parking operator in the city, said on Monday it would cancel the rate increase it announced in early June.
This promise was made after the City Council demanded parking operators at private buildings across Jakarta revoke their decision to raise parking rates by up to 100 percent.
Speaking at a hearing with representatives of Secure Parking, the council's Commission A for legal affairs said the parking rate increase violated city regulations.
Commission A chairman Pantas Nainggolan said Secure Parking should hand over the proceeds of the parking rate increase, which was implemented on June 2, to the city administration.
"It (the increase) is a serious violation of prevailing regulations. Therefore, the city administration should also hand down an additional punishment to the operator," he said.
However, the head of the City Parking Management Board (BP Parkir), Yani Mulyadi, who also attended the hearing, said it was not clear what sanction could be imposed against Secure Parking.
The parking operator's general manager, Toni Tjuatja, said his company raise private parking rates after the Communication Forum for Private Parking Operators (FKPPS) issued a press statement announcing plans to increase the fees charged to members.
A FKPPS executive denied Toni's statement and blamed the parking rate increase solely on Secure Parking.
The company raised off-street parking rates from Rp 1,000 and Rp 1,500 to Rp 2,000 per hour for cars, and from Rp 500 to Rp 1,000 per hour for motorcycles.
The increase violated Gubernatorial Decree No. 1698/1999, which sets parking rates at Rp 1,000 per hour for cars and Rp 500 for motorcycles.
The decision also breached a number of other regulations, including Bylaw No. 5/1999 and Bylaw No. 20/1997, which state that any parking increases must be approved by the City Council and the governor.
However, Governor Sutiyoso said he did not have the power to force the private parking operators to cancel the rate increase, arguing that the rates were up to market mechanisms.
The council also criticized Yani for not taking any action against Secure Parking over the increase.
Based on Gubernatorial Decree No. 48/2000 on the implementation of off-street parking, BP Parkir is authorized to supervise private parking operators in the city.
Article 8 of the decree sates that BP Parkir must act against any violations of parking regulations by Secure Parking.
Yani said he had made a phone call to Secure Parking to warn the company that the rate increase violated regulations.
Pantas said parking tickets issued by Secure Parking provided sufficient evidence for the public to file a class action against the parking operator over the rate increase.