Harare Avenues parking fee riles motorists

By The NewsDay | Oct. 5, 2014 | 2 Min read

MOTORISTS in Harare on Friday felt hard done by the city council’s move to charge 50 cents per hour for vehicles parked in the Avenues.

MOSES MATENGA STAFF REPORTER

Harare City Council yesterday said that the central business district had been extended to the west, east, south and north, meaning most parts of the city would be affected.

“This notice serves to inform the motoring public that the CBD (central business district) has been expanded to the west up to Rekai Tangwena, Enterprise Road to the east, Kenneth Kaunda to the south and Josiah Tongogara to the north,” the notice from City Parking read.

The city, therefore, introduced a “two-tier” tariff parking in the CBD area that will see $1 being paid per hour to park in the CBD incorporating Rotten Row to the west, Fourth Street to the east, Herbert Chitepo Avenue to the north and Kenneth Kaunda to the south.

“Peripheral CBD area incorporates all the areas outside the CBD area, but within the boundaries of the expanded CBD area of Harare.”

Failure to pay for the parking slots would result in clamping of vehicles by council authorities and one will need to fork out $57 to have their vehicles released.

“This is robbery and unfair to us as motorists. We come to town to try and get money and we park our cars out of the city centre. It’s unfortunate they now want to target us now,” Samson Tsikira, a Harare motorist, said.

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Several motorists and those running small businesses within the named areas, most of them in the Avenues, said it was unfair for council to act in such a manner and should, therefore, be reversed.

The move comes at a time Harare City Council has employed a raft of measures to boost their income generation.

Last week, the councillors held a special Finance Committee meeting where a number of proposals were made to ensure revenue was brought into coffers.