CMC temporarily suspends fines charged from parking meters

• Public ire over the high payment structure, many unaware of parking meters
• Authorities to revisit payment structure designed and endorsed by the CMC in 2015
• Tenaga Car Parks say only managing 100 parking meters, uninvolved with fine structure

By Charumini de Silva

The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) has temporary suspended all fines charged from parking meters in the city, with effect from yesterday until further notice, due to rising grievances from the general public regarding the high payment system.

Accordingly, Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake has instructed the CMC Commissioner to suspend all fines charged from parking meters in the city.

The Mayor, through her official twitter account, tweeted: “With regard to the recent complaints on parking meter fines. Pending council approval. I have given instructions to the commissioner to suspend all fines charges relating to parking meters”.

“The fining system from parking machines in the Colombo city was temporary suspended yesterday until further notice,” CMC Commissioner L. R. L. Wickramaratne told the Daily FT. He said the decision to suspend the fining system was considered after several public complaints were made on the fine payment structure.

“We received a number of complaints from the general public with regards to the new parking machines setup in Colombo city. Most of the concerns were regarding the high payment system. Many people did not know that a parking meter was operated in the area, they had to pay fines amounting to several thousands,” Wickramaratne added.

In 2015, the CMC signed a public private partnership (PPP) agreement with Tenaga Car Parks Ltd. to manage several parking locations in Colombo to make parking fee collection more efficient. The deal was that Tenaga Car Parks gets the major share of revenue, or 60%, from parking fines while the CMC gets 40%. In March, the company also launched its new user friendly and convenient mobile app – Tenaga Park Smart.

“The parking meters system has been temporary suspended by the CMC due to the mounting pressure on fine structure. Considering the complaints received, the authorities are now in the process of revising the fine structure,” Tenaga Car Parks Managing Director Duminda Jayatilake said.

He noted that the company was only managing 100 solar-powered smart meters along Galle Road from the Galadari junction to the Dehiwala Bridge, R.A. de Mel Mawatha (Duplication Road) from Liberty Plaza Junction to Dharmarama Road, and all intersecting by-lanes.

The smart meters were installed by Tenaga Car Parks with an invested of over Rs. 300 million for the entire project.

“We had nothing to do with the fine structure. It was all designed and endorsed by the CMC. We were just implementing it,” Jayatilake stressed.

According to a gazette notice issued on 26 July last year, a set of by-laws were introduced regarding parking of vehicles within the administrative limits of the CMC.

The parking fee for a motor bicycle, a motor tricycle, a motor car, or dual purpose vehicle, buses or motor coach or lorries has been set at Rs. 10, Rs. 20, Rs. 30 and Rs. 50, respectively, per hour or a part of an hour, while for school vans and school buses, a monthly fee of Rs. 600 and Rs. 1,000 has been set. For the above mentioned vehicles, excluding for school vans and school buses, late fees per hour will be double the amount of the parking fee on the first day, while school vans and buses will be charged a late fee of Rs. 40 and Rs. 60 per hour, respectively.

If the late fee is not paid, from the second day, up to 14 days, for one day or a part of a day, Rs. 360, Rs. 720, Rs. 1,080, Rs. 1,800, Rs. 500 and Rs. 850 will be charged for a motor bicycle, a motor tricycle, a motor car, or dual purpose vehicle, buses or motor coach or lorries, school vans and school buses respectively. Thereafter, for one month or a part of a month, Rs. 5,000, Rs. 10,000, Rs. 15,000, Rs. 25,000, Rs. 7,000 and Rs. 12,000 will be charged as late fees respectively for the above vehicles.

According to the gazette, action will be taken to recover arrears of late fees after a lapse of three months, or when the accumulative late fee is more than Rs. 50,000, or whichever occurs after filing action in court.