Mombasa county government has launched an electronic vehicle parking (e-parking) system that seek to seal loopholes used to steal revenue by workers.
The system which was launched yesterday will see motorists pay parking fee through a USSD from Mpesa.
The county target to collect Sh 50 million per month up from Sh. 1 million.
This means that more than 200 staff working a parking attendants will be rendered jobless.
According to County executive in charge of Finance Mariam Mbaruk, the automation will bring to an end manual payment and loss of revenue.
The system targets about 6000 vehicles that use parking lots in Mambasa and is part of an ambitious plan to automate all revenue stream. Other services which are in the process of being incorporated in the e-payment system include payment of cess, billboards and market fees.
Mbaruk said through the automation, the county hopes to increase local revenue from Sh. 3.2 billion to about Sh3.9 billion this financial year.
She said the automation journey started in 2014, targeting five main revenue generating streams.
So far, the Mombasa administration has digitized the issuance of business permits, payments of land rates, payment of medical services at all public hospitals and now the parking fees.
“It is not our intention to frustrate motorists, but ensure full integrity and compliance of all motorists. Its full intention is to increase revenue generation and curb corruption that has had engulfed the manual way of payments,” said Mbaruk.
Mombasa Deputy Governor William Kingi said since the digitization of revenue collection streams started revenue has been on a steady increase from Sh 2.4 billion in the year 2015 to about Sh. 3.2 billion in 2018.
“This is the start of a journey that will see the Governor Hassan Joho-led administration digitize services in all its 10 departments. Mombasa county citizens henceforth will no longer make cash payments for parking fees, instead, they will pay through Mpesa payments,” he said.
Mombasa county transport executive Tawfiq Balala however has allayed fears that workers will lose their jobs. There will no physical clamping of vehicles for defaulters but officers will only do so if you default to pay parking for several days.
“We want to assure you that nobody will be fired, we are making plans to ensure those who were helping with collecting parking fees are fixed within the same department to ensure proper monitoring of defaulters,” said Balala.