•If the plan is adopted, motorists in the CBD will pay Sh100 for the first hour of parking.
•In December 2019, Nairobi public transport operators rejected City Hall's increment of parking fees, saying it had no justification.
Image: FREDRICK OMONDI
Motorists parking in the Nairobi city centre for at least an hour could soon start paying less.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja-led administration is planning to introduce hourly parking charges in the next financial year.
If the plan is adopted, motorists in the CBD will pay Sh100 for the first hour of parking.
For motorists who intend to stay longer, they will pay Sh50 for the subsequent hours they park in the city centre.
Currently, motorists pay Sh200 daily for on-street and lot parking of small vehicles in and outside the CBD.
Mobility chief officer Boniface Nyamu said the plans are part of the efforts by the county government to increase revenue.
The revelations were made when the CEC presented the plans for the 2023-24 financial year before the county assembly committee on transport and public works last week.
"We will be billing hourly meaning that the more you stay in CBD, the more you pay. This will increase the parking revenue and discourage congestion,” Nyamu said.
Also, the reason behind the hourly parking is that in the CBD, City Hall has realised that the demand for parking is high than its supply.
In addition, City Hall also plans to automate parking services within the CBD.
Among the parking spaces targeted include City Park, and Sunken Park among others.
The County Director of Parking Thomas Karatai said the plan existed before but it will be implemented next year.
“Due to the short time notice, we decided to push it to the next financial year. When you automate it and make it time-based where someone pays for some hours and gets out, then you will increase the revenue,” he said.
If the plan is approved by the MCAs, motorists who spend more time in the city centre might end up paying triple or double from the current Sh200 per day.
This is, however, not the first time City Hall has announced such plans.
City Hall has struggled to raise revenues needed to upgrade roads and clear garbage in a county where salaries and allowances gobble more than 60 per cent of its total income.
Nairobi Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said in May 2018 that City Hall loses at least Sh1.2 billion in revenues unaccounted for fees on clamped vehicles and corrupt parking attendants.
As a result, in 2019, MCAs urged City Hall to introduce hourly parking fees to raise revenue and decongest the city.
The county assembly after passing the Nairobi County Finance Bill, 2019, gave City Hall the go-ahead to charge Sh400 parking fees daily in the CBD starting December 4.
The parking charges were categorised as Zone One (CBD) at Sh400, Zone Two (Parklands Westlands and Upper Hill) at Sh300, and Zone Three (commercial centres) at Sh200.
Daily on-street parking rates for lorries were maintained at Sh1,000 and trucks with a trailer at Sh3,000.
Parking charges for matatus were to increase from Sh3,650 to Sh5,000 for 14-seater vehicles per month.
Thirty-two-seater matatus were to pay Sh8,000 from Sh5,200 while 51-seater buses had their charges increased from Sh7,500 to Sh10,000.
In December 2019, Nairobi public transport operators rejected City Hall's increment of parking fees, saying it had no justification.
The Consumer Federation of Kenya sued to stop the increase in parking fees.
The court ordered City Hall to reverse parking fee charges from Sh400 to Sh200.