YLKI urges city administration to waive parking fee hike plan

YLKI urges city administration to waive parking fee hike plan

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) urged
the city administration on Monday to suspend its plan to increase
parking fees and a 35 percent levy for private operators until it
can provide better parking management.

YLKI chairwoman Tini Hadad told a discussion on parking
problems in Jakarta that the city parking management body, BP
Parkir, had not made any significant improvement to managing the
parking system in the capital.

"They don't even have any accurate data on several basic
things, such as the number of parking locations and spaces in the
city.

"Worst still, people as well as BP Parkir officials
acknowledge there are big loopholes in parking management," Tini
told the meeting, which was attended by city officials,
councilors and building owners.

The administration, Tini stressed, should first be able to
prove that its staff could create a better system and properly
manage parking.

"I therefore hope the plan will be halted until everything is
clear," she said.

The administration is currently deliberating a draft bylaw on
parking, expected to be endorsed this month.

Besides regulating parking fee increases, the draft bylaw also
stipulates that parking operators need to obtain a gubernatorial
permit and are required to pay a 35 percent levy on their income
for parking facilities in buildings, 30 percent in open spaces
and 10 percent for areas used only for parking.

Under the draft bylaw, parking fees will be raised from the
current official fee of Rp 300 to between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000 for
the first hour for sedans, jeeps, minibuses and vans in on-street
parking in moderately crowded and crowded areas managed by city-
owned parking operator BP Parkir.

The off-street parking fee will be set at between Rp 500 and
Rp 1,000 per hour, depending on vehicle frequency in the area.

Although the bylaw has not yet been endorsed, many operators
and both official and unofficial parking attendants have set
their charges much higher than the official rate.

Waves of criticism from the public and strong demands to
punish the operators and parking attendants have been ignored by
the city administration.

According to the BP Parkir head, Yani Mulyadi, the city
administration plans to collect some Rp 8 billion (US$1.2
million) in levies from parking for the city budget during the
1999/2000 fiscal year.

Yani told the discussion that his office relied on a 1988
gubernatorial decree on roads to estimate the number of parking
lots and spaces.

"It is 11 years old, of course, it's no longer accurate," he
said.

Based on the decree, BP Parkir only has parking spaces for
14,500 cars.

As a comparison, the city has an estimated two million cars.

YLKI executive director Zoemrotin K. Susilo said that such a
small amount was doubtful "because almost all motorists should
pay for wherever they park in the city. So the figure must be
much higher".

During the discussion, many building owners objected to the
administration's plan to insist on a gubernatorial permit for
running a parking site in buildings and a 35 percent levy on
income derived from private parking facilities.

Stefanus Ridwan from the Indonesian Association of Shopping
Complexes said parking was a part of building services and as
such should not require a special permit.

"Too many levies have been imposed on buildings like shopping
complexes, so please don't put more of a burden on us," he said.

However, head of City Council's Commission D for development
Ali Wongso Sinaga said the administration and the council would
not revise the draft bylaw related to imposing levies on parking
operators.

"Both the administration and the council have studied the
matter," he said.

He also said it was not necessary to defer the draft bylaw
endorsement.

"We still have two months before the bylaw becomes effective
and that's enough time for BP Parkir to improve its management".

During the meeting, YLKI also disclosed the results of its
survey of 40 parking spaces in the city's five mayoralties
conducted from May 5 to May 8.

The survey reveals that no private parking company follows the
regulation to set parking fees at Rp 300 and no company accepts
responsibility for any damages or losses.(ind)