More Pressure on Motorists as City Hall Introduces Parking Fees in Estates

Very soon, motorists will have no space to breathe as City Hall moves to charge parking fees in more Nairobi estates to achieve its revenue target.

The announcement was made on Thursday, June 24 by the Nairobi Finance and Economic Planning CEC Allan Igambi.

“We plan to gazette more parking areas and introduce zonal charging of the parking bays to increase revenue from parking fees,” said Mr. Igambi while reading the city county’s budget statement and Finance Bill, 2021 on Thursday.

“The development is part of new revenue-raising measures to ensure City Hall meets its revenue target of 19.8 billion shillings against a budget of 39.63 billion shillings for the year starting July,” he added.

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Currently, Nairobi County charges a daily parking fee of 200 shillings. In the financial year ended June 2020, it collected revenues of 1.5 billion shillings against a target of 2.8 billion shillings.

City Hall’s gazettement of more parking areas and charges based will be based on locations and estates.

The total car parking space in Nairobi’s city center is 14, 864, of which 3,941 are on-street parking, representing 26.5 percent. Off-street parking slots are 3, 834 while 7,089 are building parking.

The current parking fees imposed are based on City Hall’s Finance Bill of 2019, which demarcated Nairobi into three zones.

Zone I consisted of the central business district (CBD) and Kijabe Street where motorists were to be charged 400 shillings as a daily parking fee, up from 200 shillings.

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In Zone II, motorists will pay 200 shillings and the areas covered include Westlands, Upper Hill, Community, Ngara, Highridge, Industrial Area, Gigiri, Kilimani, Yaya Centre, Allsops, Mwiki, Dagoretti, Kawangware, Kangemi, South B, and South C.

Other areas within the same Zone are Nairobi West, Lang’ata, Madaraka, Makadara, Buruburu, Umoja, Kayole, Embakasi, Donholm, Muthaiga, Milimani, Hurlingham, Lavington, Karen, and Eastleigh.

Motorists parking in Zone III, which includes all other commercial centers excluding those in Zones I and II, will pay 100 shillings.

Meanwhile, the latest decision to add more estates into the list of parking areas will exert more pressure on motorists in Nairobi who are already battling the high fuel cost.

Article first published by Business Daily Africa