Nairobi County chief officer for Roads and Transport Fredrick Karanja on Thursday launched a crackdown on matatus operating outside the Central Business District (CBD) after it was established that the county loses millions of shillings in uncollected parking revenue from these vehicles.
The City Hall official further stated that the county would also get to establish data of the exact number of the matatus and the route they operate from.
“We can solve this very easily. Let the officers at the parking department get tents and go to the known roads used by these matatus. The officers should clamp all the matatus that fail to pay," Karanja declared
The directive was reached at after the County Transport Committee disclosed that the county does not have seasonal parking tickets for matatus in estates.
On Thursday, Komarock MCA John Kamau, chairman of the Environment Committee was concerned by the increasing number of matatus operating in estates without entering the CBD where they pay for parking.
Director for Parking Tom Tinega admitted that City Hall does not collect revenue from PSVs operating outside the CBD.
According to Tinega, the parking department had told the 17 sub-county commanders to start collecting revenue through seasonal parking tickets.
“Without giving us a clear explanation, sub-county traffic commanders tell us that those specific PSVs don t pay for seasonal parking. We suspect that some of them are working together with those matatu operators,” Tinega alleged.
The committee led by its chairman James Mwangi supported the move and urged the county to move with speed to avoid further loss of parking revenue especially as the new financial year approaches.
By the end of March this year, City Hall had collected Ksh 1.7 billion from parking charges.
The collection means the county had a deficit of Ksh900 million to achieve the Ksh2.6 billion target for the 2018-19 financial year which ends on Sunday, June 30.
