Park and pay returns to Abuja streets in May – FCTA

The Federal Capital Territory Administration, Abuja says its controversial on-street park-and-pay policy wil be reintroduced next month (May).

This is coming almost seven years after it suspended the policy following a court order.

Acting Secretary, FCT Transportation Secretariat, Usman Yahaya, announced this on Tuesday in Abuja, saying the parking policy would bring about sanity in the city.

The policy was in 2014 rejected by some residents who complained about alleged high handedness of its enforcing personnel and  queried the ownership of companies being used for ticketing.

Some aggrieved persons approached an FCT High Court which stopped the FCTA from further collecting fees from residents for the street parking in the metropolis.

Yahya, however, explained that the on-street parking scheme, to be managed by four companies, would commence in May 2021.

Yahaya said, “On-street parking management was suspended in 2014 as a result of an FCT High Court ruling that declared the operation illegal because it was not specifically mentioned in the 2005 FCT Road Transport Regulations. “The scheme was riddled with so many complexities, the operators were accused of many ill acts, but we have resolved the issues, so in May this year the scheme will kick-off.

“In the past seven years, the Administration had embarked on various measures aimed at addressing the concerns raised by the Court and the public with regards to the scheme, the FCT Administration in collaboration with its legal team produced FCT Parking Regulations 2019 to amend the parking section of 2005 FCT Road Transport Regulations,” he said.

He stated that the four operators will cover the whole Federal Capital City which would be divided into districts for proper enforcement.

Yahaya admitted that prior to the judgment, the scheme was riddled with countless complaints as the operators were accused of dubious, unprofessional and unscrupulous acts.

“It was based on these shortcomings that the Suntrust Savings and Loans Ltd challenged the powers of the FCTA to impose levies on motorists that parked their cars on the FCT streets.

“Justice Peter Affen in his judgment, commended and described the ‘park and pay scheme’, which was introduced for the purpose of effective traffic management as laudable but ruled that the scheme was unknown to the FCT laws.

“He blamed the authorities for not backing the scheme with adequate laws.”

He however said the new licensed operators be civil, respectful and operate within the confines of the law.

Director, FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services, Wadata Bodinga, also promised that parking lots would henceforth be provided, while the fine collectors would be well trained.