A COMMERCIAL building in Futian District has raised its one-year parking fee from 3,600 yuan (US$587) to 6,000 yuan, triggering protests from drivers.

    The building, known as Women and Children’s Building, is located on Jingtian Road and owned by Shenzhen Women’s Federation. Shenzhen Women and Children Development Center, which is managed by the federation, is in charge of the building’s property management. Its parking lot is open to the public.

    Many drivers accused the property management company of taking advantage of the fact that the city government only caps daily and monthly parking fees of commercial parking facilities. No limit is put on one-year fees, according to a report in yesterday’s Southern Metropolis Daily.

    A public parking facility like the one in the building charges 5 yuan for the first hour and 2 yuan for each subsequent hour during rush hour on weekdays. The charge is 0.5 yuan per hour during the nonpeak times on weekdays, according to the government’s pricing guidelines.

    The city’s market supervision bureau said the pricing guidelines only apply to daily and monthly charges.

    The property management company insisted that the price increase conforms to the government’s pricing guidelines.

    The vice chairwoman of the federation, Cai, told the paper that the property management company didn’t inform the federation of the price hike in advance.

    The property management company plans to communicate with protesting drivers today.

    (Martin Li)