Bulawayo parking system imminent

THE Bulawayo parking management system is expected to be up by February, with the contractor to do the job - Tendy Three Investments (TTI) revealing that equipment for the system will be arriving in the city this week.

In an interview with Sunday News yesterday, TTI managing director Mr Bongani Nyathi said they were happy with the progress to date, noting that their only setback were the rains which were delaying the road marking process by Bulawayo City Council's roads department in the Central Business District.

The company won the bid in July 2020 and got the greenlight from Cabinet for them to start operations in August last year after the council had submitted their papers to the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (Zida).

"For now, we are waiting for the local authority to complete the required markings and drillings which has been delayed by the persistent rains.

However, they have assured us that by next (this) week this will have been completed, I was also looking at the weather forecast and it seems the weather will be on our side.

"The system will also be arriving in the city next (this) week. We had initially applied to Government that we be granted national project status so that we get duty rebates.

However, this was turned down, so we are bringing all the equipment at our own cost but I am happy to say everything is now in place and if all goes accordingly the system will start operating in the city by February," said Mr Nyathi.

He said they had also successfully recruited and trained parking marshals, which saw them going to Cape Town as part of their training, to get an understanding of the system's operations.

"So far, we have trained 80 marshals, we took another batch to Cape Town, South Africa, where our system is being used, for a three-week training so that they understand how the system is operating.

Our hope is that this system will be a game changer in the city and we are doing everything to ensure that we meet the set timelines," said Mr Nyathi.

According to the agreement, TTI will invest US$2,2 million into the project, which will have a capacity of 7 200 parking bays. Some equipment worth US$700 000 has already been acquired for the project.

The project will have an annual turnover of between US$1,1 million and US$1,8 million, and will create employment opportunities for 450 people. The partnership will run for a period of six years.

Apart from revenue generation and employment creation, the other benefits of implementing the Vehicle Parking Management System are real-time vehicle detection and recording, ability to guide motorists to available parking bays, allowing effective and efficient workforce management, convenience to the motoring public and the decongestion of urban roads.

The tender was awarded after a shambolic tendering process which had seen council being dragged to court by one of the initial bidding companies - Megalithic - that accused the local authority of irregularly cancelling the tender when the company had won it.

After the courts finally allowed council to go ahead with the tender, Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube in January last year flighted an advertisement in the local media calling for expressions of interest from companies for the designing and installation of the parking management system.