CITY Parking — the firm that manages parking bays in Harare’s central business district (CBD) — said this week it was planning to increase its holding capacity in order to address current space shortages.
In an interview, City Parking public relations officer Francis Mandaza said the firm’s plan was to have holding bays in the periphery of the CBD.
“Plans are underway to leverage on stacked parking technology at various sites on the peripherals of the CBD, like our Simon Muzenda Avenue parking lot,” he said.
“The idea is to increase capacity by building upwards using modern technology. We have also constructed Rufaro Stadium parking lot, which is now open to the public and will decongest the CBD and service Mbare area as well.”
The issue of high parking fines has caused outrage in the CBD, resulting in clashes between motorists and parking marshals, who have the power to clamp and fine traffic offenders, which is meant to decongest the city centre.
Motorists have been complaining about the parking system, under which motorists are charged a penalty fee of US$57 for any parking offence. If a vehicle is clamped, the motorist has three hours to pay the penalty fee. After three hours, the motorist is charged US$65.
Due to parking bays shortages, motorists are parking in reserved or undesignated places.
In interviews, motorists complained that their vehicles were being clamped unnecessarily.
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According to a City Parking marshal, they are given daily targets to clamp 20 cars. He said this put pressure on them, hence instances where motorists are clamped without contravening parking regulations.
Mandaza said the firm had laid down operational guidelines that workers should follow to sustain the business.
“Yes City Parking has a performance management framework that ensures efficiency and attentiveness of our staff members,” he said.
“Any business operational framework must have smart performance benchmarks necessary for performance reviews and corrective action necessary for the going concern of the business.”
