Gweru in weekly parking fee hike

GWERU City Council increased parking fees from $2 200 to $3 000 per hour with effect from yesterday, barely a week after it effected another increment.

The previous fee increase was on May 26.

"This notice serves to inform the motoring public that the on-street parking tariff in Gweru will be adjusted from $2 200 to $3 000 per hour," read the Gweru City Parking Private Limited statement.

Motorists in the Midlands capital raised concern over the monthly parking fee hikes.

"Our argument is that the increases are usually not in tandem with the official rate," said James Chiseko of Ascot suburb.

City Parking, however, justified the hikes saying they were necessitated by the prevailing economic environment characterised by unstable foreign exchange rates. In 2021, council revealed that it received $4,5 million as dividend from parking revenue generated from July to September 2021.

The local authority said the dividend was an indication of a "successful public-private partnership" with the company contracted to collect fees.

Residents, however, said although it was good that council was receiving revenue from the partnership, the local authority needed to reveal to stakeholders how much it was generating from parking fees before engaging a private company.

Gweru City Council partnered Gweru City Parking Private Limited to roll out an automated pre-paid parking system to replace the old manual system which had long been condemned by motorists and residents as open to abuse.