Mombasa residents will now enjoy the same services as their counterparts in Nairobi after the county government recently launched an e-parking system, looking to increase its revenue and seal revenue collection loopholes.
The new e-parking system, which uses mobile USSD technology, will require motorists to pay their parking fees using their mobile phones. In order to pay for the fees, one will have to dial the USSD code *282# and follow instructions. The move is seeking to eliminate all the revenue leakages in the transport department of the county.
According to Mariam Mbaruk, Mombasa County Finance executive, the e-parking system will do away with cash payments that have caused revenue leakages in the county.
“Following the full automation of parking fees services, Mombasa County citizens will henceforth no longer be required to make cash payments for parking fees. Instead, they will just do so at the touch of a button on their mobile phones,” she said.
With the e-parking system, the county government targets an estimated 6,000 vehicles that use car parks in the central business (CBD) district daily. This year the government seeks to collect Sh3.9 billion as compared to the Sh3.1 billion they collected the previous financial year.
According to Dr William Kingi, Mombasa Deputy Governor, the collection of parking fees going digital is the ultimate panacea to the problems they have been facing in transport department.
“The county government used to depend on the honesty of the parking attendants to collect the parking fees. Now, the new system will not only make it easy for car owners to pay but will also ensure the integrity of the payment system. It will no longer depend on the faithfulness of the parking attendant to ensure safe transmission of the payments to the County Government. We urge motorist to embrace this new system,” he said.
This is in line with county’s agenda, which includes automating all services and integrating departments by 2021. So far, the County administration has digitized the issuance of business permits, payment of land rates, payment of services at Coast Provincial General Hospital and now the parking fees.
