City Hall rolls out digital payment of clamping charges

City Hall has begun the roll-out of an electronic payment system for clamping charges.

This comes after the county government in July started trying out a new system to help motorists pay clamping charges electronically ahead of equipping all the parking attendants with smartphones which they will use to effect the operation.

Nairobi County Director of Parking Services Tom Tinega said they have already given out over 500 smartphones to parking attendants for that purpose.

FULLY DIGITISED

“We have given out the gadgets and everything is now working according to plan. We are looking forward to making sure that every part of the city is fully digitised to make the payment system more compliant,” said Mr Tinega.

The smartphones have been configured to receive notifications that the driver of a clamped car has paid the required charges, prompting the attendant to go and unclamp it.

Mr Tinega said that a motorist whose car IS clamped for failing to pay the daily parking fees will need to dial *235# and then follow the options.

He stated that every payment to the county government is now captured in the new system which comprises of all major City Hall revenue streams.

“We are trying to find a way of making it easier to pay for the penalties. This will result in one having an easier way of making any payment and it eliminates the need of having to walk to the county offices,” he said.

SHORT CODE

The parking director explained that once a vehicle has been clamped, if one dials the short code, it will show that the vehicle has been clamped as well as show the penalty one is supposed to pay.

“Right now an individual makes the payment and has to still physically confirm to the attendants that the payment has been done for the vehicle to be unclamped,” he said.

He said that the county is coming up with a way of ensuring that a message will be generated confirming the payment of the Sh2,000 clamping penalty that will be received by a parking attendant in his or her phone.

VERIFICATION PROCESS

The attendants will now not have to wait for the owner to come and confirm payment before unclamping.

Mr Tinega observed that initially, one had to pay the penalty fee through the bank, bring the receipt to the county parking office for verification before an attendant is sent to unclamp the car.

This manual payment system has been blamed for losses in parking revenue, with many attendants colluding with motorists to receive part of the Sh2,000 penalty in order to get vehicles unclamped.

The Nairobi County government launched the new short code on June 9 after it officially parted ways with JamboPay, a tech firm that had been collecting revenue on behalf of City Hall since 2014, after the lapse of a contract between the two parties.