Lawmakers want parking fee increase halted

Several lawmakers have continued to call on the government to consider the timing and current economic conditions, and suspend the increase of parking rates for six out of seven public parking lots announced to be adjusting their prices.

The call was led by lawmakers Ella Lei and Zheng Anting via two spoken inquiries at the Legislative Assembly (AL) and later backed by many other lawmakers who joined the cause during the debate that followed.

In an AL session dedicated to Q&A with government officials on several topics, the Secretary for Transports and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, replied to the inquiries.

He noted that for the time being, only the parking lot of the Qingmao Border Post has adjusted prices, while the government is still considering the best time to enforce the price adjustment for the other six parking lots.

Lawmaker Lei said in her inquiry that raising the parking fees had no foundation and no supporting data, and, in most cases, would leave the residents without alternatives, which would contribute to their financial burden.

The same lawmaker also expressed concern that the price adjustment for the public lots would prompt the private lots to increase prices also, creating a snowball effect.

Lei noted the Transport Bureau (DSAT) justified the plan by claiming a need to increase the turnover at these lots, but the lawmaker said that in some of the targeted lots, the number of vacant overnight spots is very high, contributing to a low usage rate.

Lei called on the government for a better, clearer and more science-based mechanism for the price increase so that the population could more easily accept the changes.

She said the government had not followed the law requiring a hearing of the public’s voice before implementing measures that directly affected their daily lives.

Zheng noted parking lots charge only hourly fees, which he considers unfair, and called on the government to enforce a payment system for a fraction of 15 minutes instead of an hour.

Like Lei, Zheng also noted that in most of the lots, the price rise would only represent an extra burden for the residents and would not have a significant effect on the usage of other parks, contrary to the DSATs plan, as these lots are in areas of the city with few to no alternatives.

On the government side, Rosário said a public consultation on the matter would be “unnecessary” as “no one would like the price to increase.”

This statement infuriated some lawmakers who disagreed with the idea.

The Secretary explained later that what he meant to say was that the government had heard comments from the Transport Consultative Committee which represents several civil society associations.

Although DSAT’s original explanation for the price update did not include this justification, the Secretary later said the parking concessionaires have been doing a lot of work to keep the parking lots well maintained and updated and that the fee increase will also contribute towards these expenses.

Several lawmakers joined the debate, with the majority agreeing that the apparent reason for the update is related to the income of the parking concessionaires whereas the government did not want to admit to this fact and insisted on other reasons for updating the fees.

On the topic, DSAT director, Kelvin Lam used the example of the parking lot of Qingmao Port to say that the increase, introduced over a month ago, had already contributed positively to removing the lines of waiting cars at the entrance of this park.

He said cars had been diverted to the Ilha Verde lot instead, helping to balance the usage.

Lawmakers also commented on this example which showed that in this a case there are alternatives, which is not always the case in the central district or the old neighborhoods.

Lawmaker Nick Lei said that either way, the main issue is that there is not a clear criterion to define which parks raise the prices. If there is, the government had refused to disclose it making it difficult for the common citizen to understand the decisions.

He also proposed the government lower fees on less-used parking lots to encourage citizens to use them.

Ip Sio Kai backed Zheng’s idea to charge the time to fractions, saying that with the current use of electronic payment methods, this should be easy to implement.

Ron Lam backed Nick Lei’s idea, stating that if the government wants to “adjust according to the usage” when raising the price of the most used lots, the government should also lower the price of the less-used venues to achieve a balance.

Lam also noted that the public and the lawmakers are unhappy due to the absence of apparent logic for this measure and the puzzling speech of the government when addressing the problem.

The lawmaker said, “[it] seems that the government is acting against the policies of the central government that asks local government to promote policies capable of increasing the happiness of the population.”

Lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho summarized the discussion by noting the government wants to “benefit some private entities [the parking companies] while going against the interest of all citizens.”

He noted many members of the Transport Consultative Committee have also spoken against the measure.

Pereira Coutinho also called on the government to remove its vehicles from public car parks and into government buildings to free some space for paying users.

He said that contrary to some of his fellow lawmakers he is not calling for a suspension of this measure but for a “cancellation” of it.

Questioned on the lack of utilization of some parking lots, namely the new Taipa outdoor parking, the Secretary only said that the government is giving options to people, “it is up to them to accept them or not. If they don’t want to use it, we cannot force them.”

In a warning tone, Rosário said the idea of cutting off more street parking spots to enlarge the roads and sidewalks is a policy that will continue, saying also that he is unconcerned about the low rate of usage of the motorcycle parking lots as “one day [soon] the motorcycles will be interested in using the parks too.”

Questioned on plans to build more car parks, Rosário said there are about 120,000 cars in Macau and that the region has, among private and public car spaces, more than this number of car parks, removing the need for more to be provided.

Responding to the many opinions about the increasing costs of owning a car, the Secretary said “citizens must be aware of the costs of owning a car. It’s not just buying the car, it’s the parking, the gasoline, the maintenance and repair, all those,” hinting that those with less money should refrain from such an acquisition.

“We are not affecting the whole population. Those that ride buses are not being penalized,” the Secretary concluded in the heated and long-lasting debate.