BCC explains parking system to stakeholders
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) in partnership with a private company Tendy Three Investments (TTI) conducted a stakeholder meeting on the 17th of September. The meeting was aimed at briefing stakeholders on the City Parking Management project that is meant to be carried out in the Central Business District. The meeting was attended by the Deputy Mayor, Council representatives, representatives from TTI as well as other stakeholders.
Opening up the meeting was Mr. Sibanda a representative from BCC, who gave a brief background of the project. In his presentation he revealed that “the City Parking Management project is supposed to run for six years initially then there will be an additional four years if the project proves to be prolific.”
“The project is aimed at enhancing security for motorists through the use of CCTV cameras at parking bays and it will also provide employment for the Bulawayo residents as they will be employing parking marshals,” he said.
TTI Operations Manager Mr. L Mabuza, explained how the project will operate. He explained that parking bays will be monitored by parking marshals, who will be issuing out parking tickets to motorists.
“They will also be assisted by censors in each bay that will be checking if the parking bays are occupied, and they will be feeding the information to the command center which will be keeping track of the vehicle details,” he elaborated.
During the plenary session Mr Tshuma a representative from Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association posed a question that “if the payment of the bays is done on an hourly basis what then happens to those who spend the whole day at the CBD as well as public transport vehicles.
In his response, Mr. Mabuza said “those who work at the CBD will have to make a monthly payment plan with the BCC while public transport vehicles will have designated parking areas hence they have to park at their designated parking bays that way they won’t have to pay but if they are found parking in other bays then they will have to pay.”
Another question was from M. Sibanda from Emthonjeni Women’s Forum who sought information on existing policies to ensure that women equally benefit from the system in terms of being employed as parking Marshals. Mr Mbuza explained that women will be given the same opportunities as men in terms of employment.