Nairobi motorists to pay Sh400 to park in CBD

Nairobi motorists will from Wednesday start paying Sh400 daily parking charges in the Central Business District (CBD). The changes will also affect motorists parking on Kijabe Street.

Motorists have been paying Sh200 as daily parking charges in the city centre. The charges are contained in the Nairobi County Finance Bill, 2019 became law on September 25, 2019.

THREE CATEGORIES

City Hall Director of Parking Services Tom Tinega said the new charges have been divided into three categories based on the city zones.

He said motorists in Zone II will pay Sh200 daily parking fee. This includes 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 who will park in Zone III, which includes all other commercial centres excluding those in Zones I and II, will pay Sh100.

BUSES TO PAY SH1,000

“The new fees and charges will take effect from Wednesday, December 4 in accordance with the Finance Act, 2019 enacted into law on September 25, 2019. One will also be required to top up the parking fees if migrating to a Zone with a higher charge as will be applicable,” said Mr Tinega.

He added that buses will be required to pay Sh1, 000 as daily parking fee.

Mr Tinega added that private vehicles will be required to pay Sh7, 000 for one-month seasonal parking ticket, Sh18, 000 for three months; Sh32, 000 for six months and Sh55, 000 for a year.

Motorists who lose their tickets will pay Sh1,000 per ticket to get another copy of the seasonal ticket.

For a long time, motorists would pay Sh140 for parking in Nairobi. The fee was revised during the Governor Evans Kidero administration in 2013 to Sh300. Governor Mike Sonko later reduced it to Sh200.

REDUCTION

While reading the county's budget estimates in July, suspended Finance and Economic Planning Executive Charles Kerich said the charges were part of a raft of measures to address dismal revenue performance in the last financial year.

He said the reduction last year from Sh300 to Sh200 had resulted in significant reduction of revenue as well an increased traffic congestion in the city centre.

City Hall collected Sh10.25 billion in the 2018/2019 financial year against a target of Sh15 billion.

The county collects nearly Sh2 billion every year in parking fees. It targets to collect Sh2.97 billion from this revenue stream.