Bulawayo contentious car parking system approved

CABINET has approved a proposed US$2 million Bulawayo Vehicle City Management System which is expected to result in the local authority collecting more in parking fees. The initiative will also see a surveillance system being installed on all roads in the city. Equipment worth US$700 000 has already been acquired for the project that will create nearly 500 jobs.

This was one of the outcomes of yesterday's Cabinet meeting announced by the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa, in Harare.

"The Bulawayo Vehicle Parking Management System Project is a 30:70 Public-Private Partnership between the Bulawayo City Council and Tendy Three (Pvt.) Ltd. The two main objectives of the project are revenue generation and employment creation.

"The project involves the installation and maintenance of a fully integrated parking management system which will allow users to pay parking fees using their mobile phones and other payment methods," she said.

Minister Mutsvangwa said as part of the US$2 million project, surveillance equipment will also be installed on all streets in order to aid traffic management in Bulawayo.

"The introduction of the system will increase revenue generation to the Bulawayo City Council, thereby improving service delivery. Tendy Three (Pvt.) Ltd 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," said Minister Mutsvangwa.

She said apart from revenue generation and employment creation, there are other benefits of implementing the Vehicle Parking Management System.

The other benefits include 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 decongestion of roads, said Minister Mutsvangwa. The tender was finally awarded in September last year after 10 years since it was first proposed. Early last year the local authority re-advertised the tender after a decade of a back-and-forth in finalising it. Council was dragged to court by one of the initial bidding companies — Megalithic — that accused the local authority of irregularly cancelling the tender which the company had won. 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. However, seven months after the awarding of the tender to Tendy Three, nothing had taken off with BCC awaiting the green light from Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (Zida). Zida does not approve any Private-Public-Partnerships, they simply recommend them to an inter-ministerial committee chaired by Treasury.

According to the Zida Act the Private, Public Partnerships Unit, among other things, has the responsibility of considering the said proposals where they are affordable to the contracting authority, provide value for money and are competitive.