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Image: Monkey Forrest parking. Credit. DPS Police. 

The new central parking area at Monkey Forest, Ubud, has become overloaded since the no-parking rules came in earlier this year and tourist visits to Ubud are on the increase.

The Ubud village authority is building another parking lot right now to compensate. Village chief, I Made Gandra, said that this new parking spot will be built in three levels. “We predicted that the lot will accommodate 500 cars,” he said on Wednesday.

At the moment the central parking is already full, with 700-800 cars parked every day. “So, the central parking area is overloaded already. Luckily we can direct people to park there. If they parked on the streets like they used to be, the streets would be massively over crowded,” he said.

The new parking lot size is 76 meters x 47 meters. “We have already begun building it. It will take three months to be completed, so we expect this new parking lot can be opened and used in May this year,” he said to nusabali.com.

The funding has come from the Ubud Village budget and with this new parking lot, the total capacity of Monkey Forest central parking area will be approx. 1,200 cars. “We will build another parking lot in the future, too, so we can accommodate 1,500 cars,” he said. He hoped that with that capacity, the Ubud tourism area will be clear from roadside parking. Meanwhile, the parking fee will remain the same, Rp 2,000 for motorcycles, Rp 5,000 for cars, and Rp 10,000 for buses. “We will not raise the fee, because we did not do this for profit. We just want Ubud to be convenient for tourists, so they will be happy here and keep returning,” he said.

When the chief was asked if there were vehicles still parked illegally on the Ubud roadsides, he said that the Ubud Village residents have supported the banning rule. “Ubud residents don’t have any problem with it. The businessmen here also support it,” he said.

He also said that local residents have complied with the applicable rules about the parking. He suggests that the accommodations that still don’t have a parking area should park their vehicles at the central parking area.  Related to taxis that still park on the roadside waiting for fares, he gave the authority to police and Gianyar Transportation Department.

ED. One thing I noticed yesterday driving through Ubud is how locals are dumping building sand etc for their projects on the side of the roads every couple of hundred metres. Kind of ironic, but I imagine that will never change.