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)