City Parking has increased central Harare street and casual parking fees by 40 percent to $70 an hour from January 2, Saturday next week, as it tries to inch towards the US$1 an hour it wanted in July and was forced to backtrack to $50 an hour.
The company set up and owned by Harare City Council to
manage street parking, parkades and car parks tried in July to unilaterally
hike its charges to US$1 an hour, or the auction equivalent, from $20, as most
motorists boycotted street parking. Two weeks later, after having done
consultations with the public, it settled for $50 which it has now hiked.
City Parking announced the latest increase in a statement
yesterday. The parking firm also encouraged motorists who park for long
duration should make use of their safe, secure and affordable parkades and
parking lots.
Harare City Council some time ago reversed the old policy
that the parking account should only be used to maintain and expand parking,
which is how the two parkades were funded, and instead now uses the heavy daily
cash-flow from parking to subsidise other spending. But City Parking can set
its own pay scales and buy vehicles and other assets without getting council
approval, since legally it is a private limited company.
Combined Harare Residents Association director Mrs Loreen
Mupasiri-Sani recently said it was good to engage more stakeholders before
hiking fees.
Harare Residents Trust chairman Mr Precious Shumba said as
long as the City Parking finances are handled separately from the Finance
Department, there is going to be continuous abuse of City Parking revenues by
the private company board and management who lack accountability through the
council committee system.
Mr Shumba recently said while the reviewed new parking fees
are largely designed to cushion City Parking workers of their earnings, they
will not likely improve the services being rendered by the company.
“Most streets do not have visible street markings, the
on-street parking markings are blurred and very little is being remitted to the
City of Harare to cushion ratepayers,” he said. Herald
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