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)