• One of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directives to NMS last year on March 18, 2020, was to have automation of parking facilities in at least three areas within Nairobi.
• NMS has already initiated the process of developing underground parking at Sunken Park which will also happen at Machakos Bus Park.
Image: WILFRED NYANGERESI
Nairobi’s oldest bus station will soon be converted into an underground parking lot that will be digitally operated.
This is part of the plan by the Nairobi Metropolitan Service to decongest the city and introduce automation parking.
In an interview, NMS Director-General Mohammed Badi disclosed that the parking will be charged hourly once the storey parking is constructed.
“NMS has already initiated the process of developing underground parking at Sunken Park which will also happen at Machakos Bus Park. And all these underground parking areas will be digitally controlled,” he said.
“It will be affordable and once the motorists reach the parking lot, you will pay through mobile money, leave your car there and it will be parked for you in whichever floor of that building, ”Badi added.
One of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directives to NMS last year on March 18, 2020, was to have automation of parking facilities in at least three areas within Nairobi.
As of July, Desai Road, Machakos Bus station, Sunken Car park (along Aga Khan walk) and Nairobi law court parking had been automated.
NMS plans to integrate hourly parking to a number of parking areas which will be converted into underground parking.
At The Holy Family Basilica church, a four-storey parking bay has been set up with 536 parking slots, where before it used to accommodate only 120 parking spaces.
The construction was implemented by Chinese contractor China Zhongxing Construction Company.
Paytech Company was tapped by the church to fit the ultra-modern parking silo with a state-of-the-art smart parking solution that combines an access control system, parking guidance system and electric vehicle charging system.
After witnessing the success of the Basilica church parking, Major General Badi explained that NMS will borrow the idea and set up underground parking for motorists in the city.
Last year in September, NMS announced that most of the on-street parking slots in Nairobi will soon be turned into non-motorised transport (NMT) corridors with pedestrian and cycling lanes as part of wider plans to decongest the capital.
NMT has been rolled out along Wabera and Muindi Mbingu streets and Kenyatta Avenue which as a result has reduced parking along these places.
A number of the on-street parking spaces will also be converted to multi-storey and sunken car parks.
NMS began automating parking facilities in the county last year in preparation for the introduction of hourly parking in Nairobi’s city centre.
City motorists will from July start paying hourly parking fee within the Central Business District.
The plan, contained in the Nairobi City County Fiscal Strategy Paper for financial year ending June 30, 2022, will see the county government introduce hourly parking charges to complement the current daily parking charges.
However, the amount to be paid hourly has not been decided as the county assembly needs to approve the document .