TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - DKI Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahja Purnama (Ahok) announced that the regional government is about to create a zoning design to arrange parking retribution tariffs according to the vehicle density. "The closer a driver parks to a spot that is a center of traffic jam, the more expensive he would have to pay," Ahok explained after attending 'iftar' (breaking fast) in the Kebun Jeruk sub-district, West Jakarta, on Monday July 15, 2013.

On the contrary, if a driver parks at the outskirts, the parking tariff he would have to pay would be cheaper. At the sub-urban, Ahok continued, a person can park there all day long and only pay around Rp5,000. "From that parking spot, a person could then continue his or her trip with a bus," he said. The policy is meant to reduce Jakarta's traffic jam.

In the near future, the regional government will conduct trials in the Kelapa Gading Housing, North Jakarta. The zoning parking system will use a machine that implements a per-hour parking tariff. While setting up the machines, the government will also prepare the laws regulating the plan. "This is because we have just thought about the possibility of main roads being positioned as off-streets," said the former regent of East Belitung.

MUHAMMAD MUHYIDDIN | SYAILENDRA