Parking fees in Nairobi to be lowered next week

NAIROBI, KENYA: Nairobi City motorists will have to wait at least until next week before they can enjoy the slashed Sh200 parking fees in the Central Business District.

Nairobi MCAs passed the County Finance Bill 2018 on December 4 which reduced parking fees from Sh300 to Sh200 effective from December 18. The bill was assented to by Governor Mike Sonko but as it currently stands, motorists are still paying Sh300 in parking fees.

Boniface Kamau, a motorist, told The Standard that most residents were unaware of the new charges. He said his vehicle had been clumped twice after he paid Sh200.

“Parking attendants insist that the fees are still pegged at Sh300 and if you happen to pay Sh200 their system reflects that you have a balance. My vehicle has been clamped twice, once after I parked along Moi Avenue and the second time along Kenyatta Avenue,” he said.

City Hall however announced on Monday that it was still working on the modalities of gazetting the law before it is fully implemented.

Parking services Director, Tom Tinega said that the process to configure the new charges had begun but a slight delay at the Government printers had hindered the authority from implementing the new charges on the ground.

“The process of acquiring the requisite documentation for the law to be implemented will take a few days tentatively one week from now meaning that from next week residents will now pay Sh200. At the moment we are however charging Sh200 in parking fees in the CBD outskirts so what we are trying is to make it uniform across the city,” said Tinega.

The director explained that once the law had been gazetted, city hall would then update its online systems to reflect the chargeable parking fees as Sh200. He added that once complete, the parking department would issue Jambo Pay- online Payment Company contracted to automate collection - with a notice to adjust their systems to the new prices.