HARARE mayor, Bernard Manyenyeni has admitted that he had no authority to order Easipark to reduce its $1 per hour parking fees although the local authority was a shareholder in the privately-run company.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA Manyenyeni told NewsDay that he sympathised with motorists, who have on numerous occasions stormed his offices complaining over the high parking fees, but he said his hands were tied.
He said although Easipark was chaired by councillor Peter Moyo, it was a totally independent business unit, which was not under his control.
“I am alive to the challenges that you are talking about, at the time parking fees were pegged at $1, it was nothing, but the realities of our economy today that same money means a lot. Even the $57 for towing is just too expensive, but Easipark is a private company and we cannot dictate to them what they should do,” he said.
The company, which is in charge of all parking spaces in Harare, charges a $1 to park even for anything up to an hour, whereas other cities in the region do not charge anything if a motorist parks for less than 60 minutes.
Contacted for comment, Moyo defended the charges, saying they will only be revised downwards after the city has attained world class status. “That money is just too little for parking fees because there is chaos in Harare, so we will continue to make people pay that money. You can’t compare us to South Africa or even Zambia, theirs are world class cities,” he said.
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Moyo said Easipark was funding a lot of council obligations through dividends, adding the company had invested $1,4 million in a partnership with Accra, Ghana, among other business interests.
“We are in a partnership with Ghana, where we invested $1,4 million in Accra on a parking management agreement. Harare did not pay a single cent, it was all funded by Easipark,” he said.
He, however, failed to explain how much Easypark was expecting in returns from Accra, saying only technical people from the company were in the know.