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The Nairobi County Government is planning to raise parking fees in the Central Business District (CBD) from the current rate of Sh 200 to Sh650 per day, causing concerns among workers who rely on parking facilities in the area.
The proposed increase, which amounts to a staggering 225% rise, is among the measures the county government of Nairobi will rely on to increase revenue collection.
Chief Officer Mobility Boniface Nyamu said: “We have seen that especially in Central Business District (CBD), the demand for parking is high than the supply. We have proposed in the next finance bill to increase the amount of money that one pays for parking.”
For someone who works in the CBD five days a week, the increase in parking fees from Sh 200 to Sh 650 per day would amount to a substantial monthly cost increase from Sh4,000 to Sh13,000.
In addition to the proposed daily rate increase, the county also plans to introduce an hourly rate of Sh100 for the first hour and Sh50 for every subsequent hour.
“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,” said Nyamu.
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According to the County Fiscal Strategy Paper for 2023, the total cumulative receipts from parking fees in the previous year amounted to Sh1.87 billion in 2022, falling short of the target of Sh3 billion, recording a deviation of Sh1.14 billion.
The underperformance was been attributed to various factors, including public service vehicles terminating outside the CBD to avoid paying seasonal parking fees, non-payment for occupied parking bays by government entities, loss of spaces due to the conversion of parking bays into walkways, and closures of parking bays, such as law courts.