BAFFLING PARKING FEES: Daylight robbery – Motorists
TANZANIA: THERE have been widespread concerns from a cross section of motorists over electronic parking charges, with most of them saying they are being ripped off by the city fathers through inflated bills.
In a weeklong survey conducted by the ‘Daily News,’ the motorists blamed city authorities over lack of transparency and clarity in parking fees which have now gone digital.
They revealed their concerns after the survey over car parking fees in the country’s commercial city of Dar es Salaam.
A car owner, Ms Stella Mushi, noted that to a large extent, the electronic parking fee system in the city is not user friendly as in most cases it lacks instant notification regarding the amount of money the car owners has to pay.
“The system is very discouraging and not relevant. It raises doubts to motorists,” she said.
She suggested that the system must show in detail about the charged parking fees, including location where the vehicle was parked, time and specific date as well as rate of payment.
Ms Mushi also advised that for parking attendants who take cash from motorists for municipal parking fee payment, should issue an receipt, indicating that a customer has paid for the services.
More significantly, she argued that the receipts will boost revenue generation by plugging corruption loopholes being used by dishonest parking fee collectors.
She also said the receipts will prevent double charging which creates inconveniences among vehicle owners, saying the move will also instil confidence and trust to them.
Also Read: How ZSTHS is mitigating climate change to preserve Zanzibar Stone Town
Another motorist, Ms Elizabeth Burton, wondered how the fees were charged, recalling that she once realised an increased fee imposed on her vehicle, without knowing where she had parked her car.
She disputed the charges, saying that she did not park at the claimed time and area as stated in the e-parking system.
“I found my car was clamped. When asked, the parking attendants informed me that I have not paid the accumulated parking fees. Surprisingly, they indicated a place I had parked that I didn’t even visit. This spoiled my day,” she said.
On his part, Mr Ephraim Kaijage, a car owner, pointed out that it has become common to be charged twice or more.
On this, he urged the Dar es Salaam City Council to strengthen its digital payment system to cope with the global latest technologies as Tanzania embraces smart solutions under the Information Communication Technologies (ICT) encompassing artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT).
“The digital system should enable fee collectors to be accurate,” he said.
On top of that, he requested the government to put in place favourable parking infrastructures including neat spaces and without potholes.
In 2021, the government temporarily suspended the collection of car parking fees using the new electronic system that was being managed by the Rural and Urban Roads Agency (Tarura) and directed relevant authorities to collect the fees using original system (manual system) until all challenges were resolved.
The decision was reached following car owners outcry over unfair parking charges imposed on them by the agency.
The ‘Daily News’ understands that electronic parking fee collection system was introduced with the aim of increasing efficiency in collection and to control loopholes in government revenue losses.
However, through this survey, it was further established that some unscrupulous collectors bargain with motorists to pay lesser amount which ended in the latters’ pockets.
“I always park here, instead of paying between 3,000/ and 4,000/- electronically, I simply give them 1,000/- for the whole day… a number of motorists parking around here (along Samora Avenue) use the same trick,” he revealed.
Reacting on the car owners’ concerns, Dar es Salaam City’s Parking Manager, Mr Daudi Selemani, attributed the customers complains to shortcomings in the Government Electronic Payment Gateway (GePG).
Prior to the introduction of GePG, parking fees were collected manually whereby motorists were paying in cash.
According to him, the electronic system, which was first adopted in Dar es Salaam in 2015 failed to maintain a single control number for indebted motorists after particular financial year ends.
He said for instance if a motorist has not paid his or her debt for just ended 2023/24 financial year, the system generates another control number for the same person for 2024/25 fiscal year, this makes double charging.
However, he said the GePG was replaced in 2021 by the new system known as TARURA e-Revenue Information Management System (TeRMIS) that solved the previous system’s problems.
He said under this system a parking attendant scans a plate number after which it starts recording parking time and later notifies the customers on the amount of money to be paid as fee.
He said the challenge is that, some vehicle owners still use the old system regardless of awareness programmes being undertaken by the City Council.
He called on motorists to use the TeRMIS.
Mr Selemani said the government eyes to introduce a modern system integrated to the President Office’s Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG) which would be more comprehensive to address all the persisting challenges relating to double charging and wrong debts.
Currently, he said the Dar es Salaam City collect an average of 600m/- as revenue from parking with high expectation still clicking in the mind when the most sophisticated system commences operation.
