Motorists to pay Sh200 parking fees if proposal by City Hall sails through

An aerial view of where the former Popular Club Simmers and restaurant that was in Nairobi's Central Business District after it was demolished has now turned to a parking lot for motorists. [Photo by David Gichuru/Standard]

Motorists in the city could start enjoying reduced parking fees from September this year.

According to the Nairobi County Treasury, parking will cost Sh200 from Sh300 if the county assembly amends the Finance Bill.

The county is also seeking to increase the number of parking spaces from 12,000 to 20,000 in a year’s time.

The proposals are contained in the County Fiscal strategy Paper 2018.

Reduction of parking fees was one of Governor Mike Sonko’s election campaign pledges.

He said this would encourage more motorists to drive into the city and increase revenue collection from parking fees.

Budget and Appropriations Committee chairman Robert Mbatia told Metropolitan that the earliest the reduction could take effect was September 30, since the Finance Bill would be presented to the county assembly for review the same month.

Realistic target

Mbatia said the county chose to slash parking fees to work with a more realistic budget.

He said the County Fiscal strategy Paper 2018 report would be adopted tentatively at the end of April.

To increase the number of parking spaces in the city, City Hall is planning to utilise out-of-town spaces, private parking through partnerships, and build multi-storey parking lots.

Currently, the city has a total of 12,000 parking slots of which 10,399 are daily and seasonal ticket holders’ slots, while loading zones account for 1,601.

The county’s Bus Station has 59 parking slots.

Members of the county assembly have been blamed for a drop in parking revenue by along City Hall Way, Mama Ngina Street and General Kago Street, despite having 150 parking spaces allocated to them at the Law Courts

City zones

“Only 100 parking slots are allocated to county staff despite approximately 1,200 staff owning vehicles. The vehicles are still parked in city zones leading to lost parking revenue,” says the fiscal strategy paper report.

According to the report, parking services earned the county Sh1.97 billion compared to a target of Sh3.54 billion in the 2016-17 financial year.

Parking collection up to the end of the first half the 2017-18 stood at Sh787.3 million. The annual target is Sh3.5 billion.

Last week, Members of the County Assembly passed a motion to have open spaces turned into multi-storey car parks. They also proposed that every commercial building being put up should have floors for parking.