- Desai Road, Machakos Bus station, Sunken Car park (along Aga Khan walk) and Nairobi law court parking have been automated.
- Last week, Judge Anthony Mrima extended orders staying a planned hike to Sh400 till April 21 after a plea by the Consumer Federation of Kenya and Matatu Owners Association.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING’A
City motorists will from July start paying hourly parking fee within the Central Business District.
City Hall aims to improve its declining revenue of parking fees by implementing hourly parking.
Nairobi County Executive for Finance and Economic Planning Allan Igambi said the county had several interventions to improve revenue collection from parking including increasing enforcement and improving supervision.
“To boost revenue collection specifically for parking stream, the county government will begin implementing the mentioned interventions and at the same time also leveraging on technology that offers integrated electronic system for all revenue streams as well as sealing off of leakages,” he said.
The Finance boss also revealed that all saccos will be issued with notices for those vehicles which are non-compliant and the list will be passed to the enforcement officer to take necessary action.
Parking fees is among six key revenue streams for Nairobi County with the others include building permits and billboards and adverts, rates, single business permit, house rents which account for close to 80 per cent of the county’s annual own-source revenue.
In the financial year that ended on June 30, 2020, parking fees raised Sh1.54 billion against a target of Sh2.76 billion. Sh1.9 billion was collected against a target of Sh3 billion in 2018-19 while Sh1.9 billion was collected in 2017-18.
In 2016-17, Sh2 billion was collected against Sh3.5 billion target while in 2015-16, Sh2 billion was collected against Sh2.6 billion target.
Sh2 billion was collected in 2014-15 against a target of Sh2.8 billion while parking fees also failed to meet its target, with Sh1.5 billion collected against Sh1.8 billion in 2013-14.
The Nairobi Metropolitan Service has already automated four parking lots namely Desai Road, Machakos Bus station, Sunken Car park (along Aga Khan walk) and Nairobi law court parking.
This was per President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive to the entity on March 18, 2021 to have automation of parking facilities in at least three areas within Nairobi.
In September last year, the county assembly passed the Nairobi County Finance Bill, 2019, giving 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, Zone Three (commercial centres) at Sh200.
Daily on-street parking rates for lorries were maintained at Sh1,000 and truck 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 are to pay Sh8,000 from Sh5,200 while 51-seater buses had their charges increased from Sh7,500 to Sh10,000.
In December last year, Nairobi public transport operators rejected City Hall's increment of parking fees, saying it has no justification.
The Consumer Federation of Kenya sued to stop the increase of parking fees.
The court ordered City Hall to reverse parking fee charges from Sh400 to previous Sh200.
Last week, Judge Anthony Mrima extended orders staying a planned hike to Sh400 till April 21.
This was after a plea by the Consumer Federation of Kenya and Matatu Owners Association.
-Edited by Sarah Kanyara