Are Nairobi motorists taking advantage of parking fee reduction? Or has it become too cheap? Motorists are double parking at the Central Business District after the reduction of parking fees from Sh300 to Sh200.
More vehicles are parked in the the city centre since last week when the fees reduction was effected.
Parking director Tom Tinega said they had also noticed congestion in the CBD. “Despite the parking fee being reduced, parking spaces have not increased, resulting to a lot of double parking in the CBD,” Tinega told the Star yesterday.
City Hall is now advising motorists to avoid double parking to allow easy access in and out of parking lots.
Nairobi has about 12,000 public parking slots, of which 6,000 are reserved for government and private institutions. Reserved parking space costs Sh200,000 annually.
The Finance Bill 2018, which cut the parking fee by Sh100, was signed into law by Governor Mike Sonko last year in December. Initially, the parking fee was Sh300.
MCAs approved the Bill on December 4, 2018, slashing the fees from Sh400 proposed by the county treasury.
Finance and Budget Committee chairman Robert Mbatia yesterday told the Star that there has been a negative response in enforcement in parking issues.
He said most of the attendants said it has not helped increase revenue collection. “By reducing the parking fees we expected the revenue not to go up but to motivate motorists to bring out their cars and utilise the county’s parking lots,” Mbatia said.
He added, “We have, however, noted that some of the parking attendants are reluctant when it comes to enforcement.”
As of December 31, 2017, City Hall collected Sh3.2 billion against the target of Sh8.3 billion from all its 134 internal revenue streams in the first half of the current financial year.
According to Auditor General Edward Ouko’s 2016-17 report on county finances, Nairobi loses Sh300 million annually in parking fees because of weak enforcement and collusion between corrupt officials and motorists.
City Hall has noted that parking boys have been a constant trouble and causing confusion.