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Innocent Ruwende Senior Reporter
City of Harare’s parking unit, City Parking (Pvt) Ltd, has increased parking fees for its bays both within the central business district (CBD) and on its peripherals with effect from March 1.

Motorists will now pay $2 per hour in the inner CBD, up from $1, while parking in the peripheral CBD went up to $1 from $0,50 per hour.

“Please note that effective 1 March, Harare CBD parking tariffs has been adjusted to $1 per 30 minutes and $1 per hour in inner CBD and peripheral CBD respectively. Our pre-paid parking cards that allow you to park and pay for 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 1 hour are still available for your convenience,” reads the notice.

City Parking marketing manager Mr Francis Mandaza, said they had adjusted Harare CBD parking tariffs to cushion against rising operational costs.

“Parking is charged in RTGS dollars and the adjustments are in sync with the recently pronounced Monetary Policy Statement. The $1 per hour tariff is no longer sufficient to recover operational costs. City Parking has pre-paid parking cards that give motorists convenience and value for money as it enables them to park and pay for 15 minutes only, 30 minutes only or as they wish,” he said.

“On-street parking is transactional parking and $1 per 30min is quite reasonable. We encourage motorists to park for and transact in the shortest possible time to allow others the opportunity to find parking and do business.”

He said business operators in the CBD and other motorists who park for long should park in parkades and parking lots where there is safe, secure and affordable parking. Mr Mandaza said it was not desirable to park continuously on the same spot for the whole day as this stifles business in the CBD. “We anticipate reduction in traffic congestion as the reinforced Traffic Enforcement Operations target non-compliant and double parked vehicles as well,” he said.

The city is struggling with parking congestion as its 6 000 on-street parking bays are failing to cope with an average of 100 000 vehicles coming into town daily, including those passing through.

Of the available parking bays, 1 200 are already taken up by Government departments and parastatals.

Last year, City Parking invested $4,8 million into the city’s parking infrastructure, while also declaring a dividend of $1,8 million.

Council was paid a total of $1 804 000, of which $1 530 000 was cash, while the remainder is in form of settlement with its former partner in the parking business, Easihold of South Africa.