Secure Parking warned over parking system

Secure Parking warned over parking system

JAKARTA (JP): A city parking official said on Tuesday that his
agency had sent a letter to private parking operator PT Securindo
Packatama warning them against arbitrarily increasing its parking
fees.

"We sent a letter on July 31 urging the company not to
increase their parking fees since it violated a gubernatorial
decree," said City Parking Agency (BP Parkir) deputy head Sukri
Bey.

He said his agency, the supervising body of parking operators
in the city, found that Secure Parking, run by PT Securindo, had
increased its rate to Rp 1,500 per hour from the official amount
of Rp 1,000 per hour.

He said the company had applied its new rates at Cempaka Mas
shopping center in Central Jakarta and Sunter Mall in North
Jakarta.

"But Secure Parking then responded with a letter, denying that
it had increased its fees," Sukri said.

He said the company claimed that it still applied the old rate
of Rp 1,000 per hour but it was adding 10 percent value-added tax
(VAT) and rounding up to Rp 1,500.

Sukri said the company should not add on the VAT, since the Rp
1,000 rate, according to the gubernatorial decree, included tax.

Even though the company is violating tax regulations, Sukri
said his office could not punish the company.

"It's not our jurisdiction, but the City Revenue Office's," he
added.

Agency program and permit division head Bambang Rachmanto said
the city administration was unlikely to close the parking
operator's lots, as it had last year when the company arbitrarily
increased its parking fees.

At that time, some parking lot owners sued City Governor
Sutiyoso for closing their lots.

"We lost the lawsuit, but we are appealing to the Supreme
Court," Bambang said, adding that it was unclear why the
administrative court ruled against the governor.

Separately, the chairman of City Council Commission D for
development affairs, Sayogo Hendrosubroto, called on PT Securindo
to adhere to the bylaw and not make any new moves which would
invoke public upset.

Sayogo, of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle,
pointed out that PT Securindo had made large profits in the
business. As a support facility in a building, a parking lot
should be free of charge, he said.

However, he added, since the city administration and public
were accepting, the company was able to run its business.

Another Commission D member, Ali Imran However, said any
increase of parking fees would be a violation of the bylaw.

"If a private parking company increases its parking fees,
their license should be revoked," Ali of the United Development
Party said.

An executive of PT Securindo said last weekend that the
company had imposed the new parking system at the Mandarin hotel
and the Meridien hotel as of July 1.

He told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the company would not
cancel the new system despite strong public outcry.

PT Securindo, he said, had not yet decided whether it would
implement the new system in its other parking lots.

"It depends on negotiations with the management of the
buildings, but perhaps the new system will not be imposed in
other places, not in the near future," the executive requesting
anonymity said.(06/07/jun)