The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has said they have not received any formal complaints regarding the parking fees that have been introduced in the city.
This comes despite residents and motorists taking to social media and the local media to express their disdain to the new fees, which they deemed high, and motorists largely boycotting the bays manned by the local authority’s partner in the project Tendy Three Investments (TTI).
The parking system came into effect last Friday and the first two days of its implementation saw TTI setting up 147 prime parking bays in the city where they are charging US$1 for 30 minutes. By the end of the project there will be 7 200 parking bays that will be under the system. The fees are payable using the local currency at the official bank rate.
According to BCC the parking system will be in operation from Monday to Friday between 8am and 5 pm and Saturdays 9am to 1pm, on Sundays and public holidays it would not be operational.
With the local authority saying it has now set up the 147 prime parking bays that charge US$1 for 30 minutes and assuming the remainder of 7 053 will be ordinary parking which will be charged at US$1 an hour, TTI- if all parking bays are occupied at any given time- is set to make US$17 182 853 yearly.
Of this figure TTI is expecting to pocket 70 percent which translates to just over US$12 million, with the project expected to run for six years, the South African-based company is expected to have racked in US$72 million and if they get the further four year extension they would have made US$120 million.
Commenting on the public outcry, Bulawayo Mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni said they had not received any formal complaint regarding the matter, saying the only people who could comment on the fees at the moment were TTI officials.
“We have not received formal complaints or a progress report as council regarding the parking issue. Remember this project officially started on 18 February 2022 and our partner is handling it for now. For now it will only be fair to get a comment from the partner,” said Clr Mguni.
Contacted for comment, TTI managing director Mr Bongani Nyathi also declined to comment, referring the matter back to the local authority.
“On this platform I can’t say anything, maybe Mrs Nesisa Mpofu (BCC corporate communications manager) can comment on that,” he said.
Responding to questions from this publication, Mrs Mpofu said they had used benchmarking in coming up with the said fees.
She said that the fees they were charging were similar to those that were being charged in other cities and towns countrywide.
“The pilot phase of the parking management system started Friday 18 February 2022. At the present moment we are assessing the working of the system. Benchmarking was used in coming up with the pricing model for the zones.
The standard cost of parking is a US$1 in most towns and cities that have a parking system in the country,” said the council spokesperson.
In Harare parking is US$1 for an hour so is the case with Gweru and Zvishavane. Mrs Mpofu revealed that the parking management system is also expected to address numerous violations of the Statutory Instrument 63/ 2015 (Bulawayo Clamping and Tow Away By laws).
“Some of these violations include parking of motor vehicles across lines of parking bays, parking of taxi cabs other than in prescribed taxi parking, parking of motor vehicles for a period longer than indicated by council, parking of motor vehicles other than in demarcated parking bay, parking of motor vehicles carrying inflammables in built up areas and parking of motor vehicles which do not display a valid licence disc.
“They also include parking of motor vehicles on pavements, parking of motor vehicles for the purpose of hire or sale without council approval, unloading of commercial vehicles other than in loading zones, repairing, oiling, greasing or washing of motor vehicles in a municipal car park causing dirt, nuisance or inconvenience and driving a taxi cab without a taxi badge. All these offences have a prescribed penalty of US$20,” she said.
According to the local authority, the project is being implemented in phases, with phase 1, which will cater for the prime parking in the city set to cover Leopold Takawira Avenue to 11th Avenue and Fife Street to Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Street.
The second phase to the sixth phase will be an expansion from the area covered by the first phase until the whole city is encompassed. Once complete, there would be 7 200 parking bays in the city under the system.
TTI won the bid to implement the system in July 2020 and got the green light from Cabinet for them to start operations in August last year after the council had submitted their papers to the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (Zida).
