YLKI criticizes parking fee hike
YLKI criticizes parking fee hike
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) on Monday criticized
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso for an on-the-sly hike in off-street
parking charges of up to 100 percent, saying that the policy
violated the consumer's right to information.
An executive with the YLKI, Tulus Abadi, said that Law No.
8/1999 on consumer protection clearly stated that consumers had
the right to information on policies made by the government on
goods and services.
"Consumers have the right to reject a policy made without
considering the Consumer Protection Law," he said.
Sutiyoso signed Gubernatorial Decree No. 98/2003 on Dec. 5 to
provide the legal basis for the charge increase in response to
demands from building owners and private parking operators voiced
in the middle of this year.
The Jakarta Administration never announced the gubernatorial
decree until the press sought confirmation about the charge
increases on Monday following protests by a number of motorists
who were shocked by the new policy.
The decree provides, among other things, that the new charge
for a four-wheeled vehicle is between Rp 1,000 and Rp 2,000 per
hour as compared to the current charge of Rp 1,000 per hour. The
parking charge for a motorcycle remains the same at Rp 500.
Parking charges for buses and trucks will be between Rp 2,000
and Rp 3,000, as compared to Rp 2,000 at present.
The decree does not mention when it will come into effect, but
the head of the City Parking Management Agency (BP Parkir), Yani
Mulyadi, stressed the new tariffs would come into effect in early
January after his office conducted a publicity campaign.
"I will need two weeks for a publicity campaign, particularly
to inform parking operators about the charge increase. It will be
implemented early next year," he said.
However, a number of off-street parking places have already
introduced the higher tariffs. They include Plaza Glodok and
Gajah Mada Plaza in West Jakarta, Hayam Wuruk Plaza, Carrefour
Duta Merlin and Plaza Senayan in Central Jakarta.
Yani advised parking operators in those buildings to cancel
the increases until they had been officially announced. He
threatened to close the parking lots if the operators ignored his
calls.
The city official has previously often made such threats but
never taken any action against the parking operators.
According to Tulus, the public should have been allowed to
make submissions before the decision was taken to increase
parking charges.
He also criticized the Jakarta administration for only
targeting parking operators in its public campaigns. He stressed
that the consumers, who would be the most affected, should be the
main targets of such campaigns.
"It is not a public campaign if it is only directed at parking
operators and conducted after the policy has been formulated. It
is then only an announcement," he added.
A councillor also criticized the performance of BP Parkir as
the city always had to subsidize it in collecting parking
charges.
Dani Anwar, a councillor from the Justice Party, said that by
December, BP Parkir had only collected some Rp 14 billion while
the city has targeted the collection of Rp 32 billion in parking
charges. Last year, BP Parker managed to collect Rp 16 billion of
the targeted Rp 32 billion.
The city also had to subsidize BP Parkir to the tune of Rp 21
billion this year in respect of its routine expenditure.
"How can an agency tasked with raising revenue from parking
fees still have to be subsidized," he asked incredulously.