T

he Batam Free Trade Zone’s collection of parking fees from foreign car carrier ships has not contributed to the regional income of the Riau Islands province.

The Riau Islands legislative council tax collection special committee has asked the Transportation Ministry and Batam Free Trade Zone (BPK) to deposit part of the parking fees to the province’s coffers.

Tax collection special committee member Surya Makmur Nasution said his committee would include the parking fees from foreign vessels as one of the tax sources. He referred to the provincial administration’s guidelines on its sea territory, which encompassed a radius of between four and 12 miles from the coast.

The territory is under the jurisdiction of the provincial administration and the authority of the regency or mayoralty administrations below four miles, Surya added.

Based on the guidelines, the parking area of the foreign vessels was included within this jurisdiction, so the provincial administration was authorized to have a share of the parking fees.

“The payments are only accepted by particular officials outside the procedures. We want the payments be included in the form of formal charges so they can supplement the provincial coffers. We are currently lobbying the Transportation Minister and the Supreme Audit Agency [BPK] regarding the issue,” said Surya, who estimated that the parking operators of the foreign ships could attain around Rp 100 billion (US$11.7 million) from the service per annum.

A number of related elements have raised controversy over the issue in Batam. For fear of damaging coral reefs, the Batam municipality had earlier demanded a halt to the service, which involved foreign vessels weighing thousands of tons locating themselves in waters off the Rempang and Galang islands.

Batam BPK spokesman Dwi Djoko Wiwoho told The Jakarta Post that his office had given a permit to PT Bias, a Batam shipping agent, to manage the ship parking service.

The monthly parking tariff for ships over 50,000 tons is around Rp 20 million, which is paid to private shipping agents managing the service, such as PT Bias.

“Ripple effects from the service are quite favorable, especially to the local economy, such as supplies of drinking water by local companies and ship cleaning services by local residents. This is the first foreign ship parking service in Indonesia,” said Djoko.

According to Djoko, the service originated from a drop in the cargo volume of car carriers from various producing countries in connection with the global economic crisis. The large ships were not operating and required a parking area. They eyed waters off Rempang and Galang islands due to their ideal location near the Malacca Strait.

“The ships parking there are new, not scrap. They opted for the islands because they are ideal for ship parking as the water is calm,” said Djoko.

More than 20 foreign registered car carriers park around the islands, located 2.5 kilometers southeast of Batam Island.