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Kampala paid on-street parking in the central area

When you use this in your parking change-making efforts, please give credit to Parking Reform Atlas and/or its sources.

 

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Brief summary of this reform

The Central Division of Kampala has paid on-street parking via contract with a private parking management company. This started via attendants and pay-and-display parking meters but today the main payment method is to pay via mobile money services based on a receipt issued by a parking attendant.

Why should you care?

Despite some significant difficulties and problems, this seems to be a relatively successful implementation of on-street parking management, including fee collection, in a low-income country context.

It highlights that establishing such parking management is challenging but also rewarding.

Country

Uganda

Vehicle type

diverse

State/province

Key actor type

Local government

Jurisdiction

Kampala

Primary motivation

orderly parking (usually for wider benefits too)

Agencies involved

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and the private company, Multiplex

Is it a model or a warning?

useful model

Reform type

Main parking category

Main parking paradigm shift

pricing

On-street in mainly commercial streets

Helpful for park-once-and-walk approach

Adaptive Parking thrust

Implementation status

Year adopted

P: Price parking in the right ways and with the right rates for each place and time

implemented

1997

Goals of the reform

Both orderly parking and revenue for the city seem to be the key goals of the paid on-street parking system.

Impetus (what problem, campaign, opportunity or event prompted action?)

GIZ-SUTP suggests that paid parking commenced as part of a set of 1997 reforms to improve service delivery in the city generally.

Detailed description of the reform

The Central Division of Kampala has paid on-street parking via contract with a private parking management company handling both payments and enforcement in the paid parking area.

This started via attendants and pay-and-display parking meters. Today the main payment method is to pay via any one of several mobile money services based on a receipt issued by a parking attendant.

The first contract was awarded in 1997 after competitive tendering to Green Boat Entertainment, with UGX70 million to go to the city council and any remaining revenue after costs staying with the company as profit (GIZ SUTP, 2010).

In 2003, Multiplex won the contract with payments of UGX80 million per month to the city council. Multiplex was again awarded the contract that started in 2010 and again (controversially) from 2020, when some city officials declared a high level of satisfaction with Multiplex but with others pointing to various lapses (Daily Monitor, 2019). Multiplex has also faced complaints about overzealous enforcement at times and its street employees went on strike in 2017 over pay and conditions. In 2012, there was a failed court challenge to the legality of on-street parking fees by the City (Daily Monitor, 2012).

The parking fees were dramatically increased in 2017. This resulted in changes to the contract between KCCA and Multiplex, which had been paying UGX140 million per month and would then pay UGX337 million (about USD90,000) per month. [1USD = 3,638 Ugandan Shillings as of April 2021]

Results or impacts

I have not see any formal evaluation of the results of this paid parking system and would welcome more information.

GIZ-SUTP (2010) includes a case study on this that suggests significantly improved parking availability and success with reducing all-day parking in prime locations. SUTP also reported that the revenue for the city has been a major benefit.

Sources and acknowledgements

GIZ SUTP (2010) SUTP Module 2c – Parking Management, https://www.sutp.org/publications/parking-management/

Multiplex Limited, https://www.multiplexug.com

Daily Monitor (December 05 2012) Multiplex wins parking case, https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/multiplex-wins-parking-case-1531824

Blanshe Musinguzi (29 Aug 2017) KCCA: New Parking Fees Will Discourage Long-Stay Parking, https://ugandaradionetwork.net/story/kcca-new-parking-fees-will-discourage-long-stay-parking

Uganda Business News (August 28, 2017) KCCA hikes parking fees, https://ugbusiness.com/2017/08/politics-policy/kcca-hikes-parking-fees

Daily Monitor (March 21 2019) KCCA extends Multiplex street parking contract, https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/kcca-extends-multiplex-street-parking-contract-1814766

Namanya Elias Makuka (February 15, 2021) How to Pay for Your Street Parking Ticket Using Mobile Money in Uganda, https://parrotsug.com/2021/02/how-to-pay-for-your-street-parking-ticket-using-mobile-money-in-uganda.html

Image credit: "not not phil" from SF, CA, US, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Uganda_-_Downtown_Kampala.jpg

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Last updated: 

13 Apr 2021

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