Nairobi City County motorists are set to suffer a huge blow as the Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko doubles the parking fee in the Central Business District (CBD) from the current Ksh 200 to Ksh 400 per day.
The hubs are listed as Upper Hill, Community, Westlands, Yaya Centre, Eastleigh, Industrial Area, Karen, Gigiri, Ngara and Hurlingham.
The rise is aimed at reversing the drop in Nairobi revenues and decongesting the Central Business District (CBD), says City Hall, adding that traffic jam is costing the city estimated Sh37 billion in fuel and lost man-hours.
“The reduction in parking fees for street parking fees was the cornerstone of the amendments last year and has drastically reduced revenue collections from daily parking and increased congestion within the CBD,” said City Hall.
Parking fees for non-commercial buses and lorries will be Ksh 1,000 while trucks will pay Ksh 3,000 in the central business district and half that amount in the residential areas.
Those paying monthly tickets will part with Ksh 7,000 and Ksh 55,000 if they opt for annual permits.
This is happening just a few days after days the new e-payments system introduced by the Mike Sonko administration failed to facilitate payments for the fifth day running forcing the motorists to choose between paying parking fees to attendants, which is illegal and having their vehicles clamped.
Nairobi introduced the Internal Revenue Management System (IRMS) that requires drivers to make payments using USSD code *235#.
Unlike the previous system, the money is pulled directly from M-Pesa and motorists have to pay a Sh23 fee for every transaction.