City Hall losing Sh2 million parking fees daily, MCAs told
By COLLINS OMULOThe Nairobi County government continues to lose more than Sh2 million a day in parking revenue because of laxity and collusion between parking attendants and motorists.
This was revealed by Mr Danson Muchemi, the CEO of JamboPay, the firm contracted to digitise all county revenue streams.
Mr Muchemi told the county’s Budget and Appropriations Committee that, despite his firm relaying real-time information on parking, compliance remains an issue.
He said parking rakes in on average Sh2.5 million a day, but could be doing a lot better after it was automated.
He said parking compliance stands at 43 per cent, with most vehicles not paying parking fees and the attendants not clamping non-compliant vehicles.
‘NO MANDATE’
“We have no mandate to force anyone to pay. We are just providing a tool to show what is being collected. It is not fair to blame the service provider yet it is your officers taking money out in the field,” Mr Muchemi told the Robert Mbatia led committee.
The JamboPay boss was responding to a question by Makongeni MCA Peter Imwatok, who asked why revenue from parking has not increased since the firm took over the digitisation of the county’s revenue streams.
He noted that the average daily collection has risen from Sh2.5 million to just Sh2.8 million despite an increase in parking fees from Sh140 to Sh300 per vehicle per day.
Mr Muchemi’s concerns seem to corroborate a report by the county Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee tabled in May, which revealed that the city lost Sh238 million in parking revenue in the 2015/2016 financial year because of defaulters.