FCTA reintroduces ‘park and pay’ policy

About seven years after it suspended its controversial ‘park and pay’ policy,  the Federal Capital Territory Administration FCTA, has again reintroduced the policy. Acting Secretary, FCT Transportation Secretariat, Usman Yahaya who announced this on Tuesday in Abuja said the on-street parking policy was to bring about sanity in the city. The policy was in 2014 resisted by some residents who decried the high handedness of operatives, and also queried the ownership of companies being used for ticketing and enforcement.

Some of the residents consequently approached an FCT High Court which stopped the FCT Administration from further collecting fees from residents for on and off the street parking within the metropolis. He said that the on-street parking scheme, which will be managed by four companies will 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 much 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. The Acting Director stated that the four operators will cover the whole Federal Capital City which will be divided into districts for proper enforcement.