Transparent parking system urged

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Iwan, a resident of Setiabudi area, South Jakarta, could not help but wonder how the road shoulders close to his house were allowed to used as a parking space that accommodated some 120 vehicles.

He said that the person collecting parking fees did not wear the parking attendant's uniform and was required to pay Rp 200,000 to his "boss" each day.

"The boss is also required to pay Rp 100,000 to someone else who, I don't know how, can arrange that the illegal business takes place smoothly."

With almost every space in the city being used for on-street parking for some five million cars, the attendants of a discussion on the potential of parking fees as a great source of revenue could not understand why the city has to subsidize the company tasked to collect the fees, BP Perpakiran.

Last year, BP Perparkiran's spending reached Rp 15.09 billion (US$1.5 million), while its revenue from fee collection only Rp 14.16 billion. In 2003, the spending was Rp 15.80 billion, while its revenue was Rp 15.46 billion. And in 2002, the spending was Rp 17.52 billion, while its revenue was Rp 14.77 billion.

According to Gubernatorial Decree No. 177/2002 regarding on- street parking, there are 517 on-street parking locations, each of which can accommodate 13,185 vehicles.

During the discussion held by the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) last Thursday, participants learned that the number of on-street parking locations could be double what had been stated in the decree.

Fakta calculated that from the official on-street parking locations alone, the city must be able to collect some Rp 850 billion each year.

"That is if BP Perparkiran implements a transparent collection system. But apparently the officials are reluctant to do so because with the current system they can pocket additional income," said Fakta's executive Tubagus Haryo Karbiyanto.

Under the current system, parking attendants are required to give 70 percent of their respective turnover from parking fees they collect to BP Perparkiran.

Also a speaker in the discussion, head of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) for transportation issues, Sudaryatmo, pointed to the weak monitoring from BP Perparkiran as the reason why not most of the parking revenue went to the city coffers.

"I suggested a change in the system which requires parking attendants to deposit all of earnings from the parking fees to the city treasury while they are given a fixed salary," he added.

The urban activists discovered that the absence of a monitoring system in BP Perparkiran has helped the illegal parking business mushroom, where the money was distributed to a number of parties including certain officials at the agency, police officers, thugs and the parking fee collectors.

"The city now has two options: enforce a better system or just dissolve BP Perparkiran, because with the current system, the majority of the turnover from parking fees goes to the agency's officials," Tubagus said.