Putting parking reform in gear

With civil society, the opposition and even the ruling party talking more and more about the subject of electoral and judicial reforms in the wake of July’s contested national elections, some groups yesterday gathered to call for reforms in a more modest sector – parking fees.

The Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and Pacific (ANSA-EAP), the Independent Democracy of Informal Economic Association (IDEA) and the Khmer Institute for National Development yesterday called on the Department of Economy and Finance to ensure that parking lot operators at state-run markets adhere to department guidelines on parking fees, arguing that true reform includes issues both big and small.

“The fee set by the Department of Economy and Finance is only 300 riel [7.5 cents] for the parking fee, but those businesspeople [who run the lots] charge one motorbike anywhere from 500 riel to 1,000 riel, and sometimes up to 2,000 riel,” reads a statement released by the groups.