736 Bulawayo parking bays lost to informal trading

Informal traders are continuing to undermine Bulawayo's parking revenue collection and delaying the implementation of the city's multi-million-dollar smart parking management project after occupying hundreds of parking bays across the central business district.

A latest City of Bulawayo report shows that 736 parking bays remain inaccessible because they are occupied by informal traders, leaving the municipality below the minimum number of bays required for the project to proceed at full scale.

Council identified 6,978 parking bays within the project area, comprising 6,435 standard bays and 543 reserved bays. However, the occupation of 736 standard bays, particularly along Fifth Avenue and surrounding areas, has significantly reduced the number of usable parking spaces.

The shortage means the city remains below the contractual requirement of 7,200 parking bays needed under the parking management agreement.

"Delays in fulfilling the precedent condition of availing a minimum of 7,200 bays is one of the major challenges facing the project," the council report states.

To bridge the shortfall, council said it is creating additional parking bays through road rehabilitation and pothole repairs being carried out by its own teams and contractor Tokologo Civils.

The municipality has also completed procurement of road-marking paint, allowing internal teams to repaint faded parking bays and mark newly rehabilitated spaces.

Council further revealed that it is seeking approval to amend the project's implementation arrangements by allowing project partner TTI to assume responsibility for delivering the outstanding parking bays.

"The council resolved on the request for the project to allow the counterparty TTI to take over the precedent condition deliverable. Engagement with the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) is currently ongoing on getting authority from the Cabinet PPP Committee on the change," the report said.

The Parking Management Project began in February 2022 and was initially scheduled for completion in February 2028, although council says a revised completion date is yet to be determined because of implementation delays.

Despite the setbacks, the city says progress has been made in deploying smart parking technology.

Installation of AI-enhanced parking sensors is currently about five percent complete following successful pilot testing in selected areas. Full deployment is expected to begin during July.

The project has also received upgraded artificial intelligence-enabled parking tags.

Meanwhile, installation of surveillance cameras has reached approximately 40 percent completion, although progress has been slowed by internet connectivity challenges.

"The project has received the new specification cameras with AI enhancements," the report noted.

Construction of the proposed impound yard has reached 70 percent completion but has since been suspended after council proposed relocating the facility for alternative use.

Council identified several ongoing challenges affecting implementation, including delays in creating additional parking bays, slow progress across parts of the project area, low utilisation of some free parking zones and the continual need to repaint road markings as they deteriorate.

Nevertheless, the local authority says efforts to modernise parking management and meet its contractual obligations remain underway through continued infrastructure upgrades and expansion of available parking facilities.