Should embassies obey parking rules?

JAKARTA (JP): It is not yet clear if embassies in Jakarta will have to comply with a city regulation that requires all buildings to provide an adequate number of parking spaces for its employees and visitors.

The city has also proposed increasing parking lot fees to Rp 5,000 per hour in order to encourage carpooling and free up space in the lots. Because most buildings around the capital have insufficient parking, cars are forced to park on the street, creating further congestion.

Embassies around Jakarta have special diplomatic status and set their own parking rules. Embassy officials stress security as the reason why some even ban parking altogether on embassy grounds.

The receptionist at one embassy said that one had to be invited and cleared by security guards to park on embassy grounds. This, she said, was done to prevent terrorism and attempts by asylum-seekers to enter the embassy's territory.

The American Embassy on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan bans parking on its grounds. Drivers generally park their cars in the nearby Monas parking area, at the Gambir railway station or in any other space they can find. They then take a three-wheeled bajaj to the embassy.

At the Embassy of Spain on Jl. H. Agus Salim, Central Jakarta, the staff has had to cope for years with a parking lot big enough for only 12 cars. While guests only number a handful each day, parking problems do arise.

"If there's a party, guests park at the nearby BPN (National Land Agency) office," a security guard at the embassy said.

Parking at the Australian Embassy on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said is for embassy staff only. All others are directed to nearby buildings. Said the embassy's information officer, John Milne, "Because of the design of the building the embassy is unable to expand its parking facilities."

Complaint

Even embassies which do provide parking spaces complain of a shortage.

An employee of nine years at the Canadian Embassy in Wisma Metropolitan I says visitors to the embassy often arrive late for their appointments.

"We call them up and they say they're still looking for a parking space," he said from his office on Jl. Jend. Sudirman.

Years ago it was easy for employees to find parking. Now, he said, with more and more staff having private embassy cars, many have to park behind the World Trade Center in the middle of Wisma Metropolitan I and II.

Ali Imran Suranata -- the safety and security manager of PT Jakarta Land, the owner and manager of Wisma Metropolitan I and II as well as the World Trade Center -- said his company was doing its best to make it easier for visitors to park at the embassy. A certain amount of parking space is rented to employees and visitors are allocated another amount.

"We charge visitors Rp 1,000 per hour for the first four hours, a progressive fare for the next hours and Rp 2,000 per hour after 6 p.m.," he said, adding that at such rates the management could not insure the cars in his lots, as many motorists demand.

Things get more complicated, he said, when the computers issuing tickets break down and when parking operators are new at the job.

The company, he said, is now erecting another building behind the World Trade Center with five levels and a 2,000-car capacity.

Both of the embassy personnel interviewed saw public transportation as the solution. Tommy said the city should provide more buses or have them provided by the companies that create the most traffic. (anr)