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Sonko’s parking fee cut hurting revenue, leaves CBD congested


Nairobi governor Mike Sonko’s new daily parking rate of Sh200 has decreased revenues at City Hall.

According to parking director Tom Tinega, the new rates have seen a dip in the department’s revenues.

“We have not increased the spaces and remember even at Sh300 we still had scarcity of space so the new rates have decreased the revenues,” he said.

The director added that the parking attendants have also had to deal with angry motorists owing to the lack of paling spaces.

“Some motorists are now parking on the yellow lines and there is a lot of chaos especially in the CBD,” he added.

The city centre has seen an increase in the number of personal vehicles leading to traffic congestion and chaos as motorists scramble for the few available slots.

Mr Tinega said the county government is “monitoring the situation to see if anything can be done.”

Governor Sonko, while approving the new parking rates, observed that it would cause traffic snarl ups in the CBD but that it was a much needed relieve to motorists.

“I know that this (reducing the fees) will increase congestion in the city centre but then again, we cannot punish Nairobi residents because projects such as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system and construction of bus termini outside the CBD are ongoing,” he said.

Parking revenue accounted for 18.6 per cent of Nairobi’s Sh10.1 billion revenue for the year 2018  to June.