Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government has announced that it will reinstate the electronic system for collecting car parking fees next month, three weeks after it was briefly suspended.
Minister in Charge of Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG) Ummy Mwalimu has also issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Rural and Urban Roads Agency (TARURA), to provide public education on how to use the TARURA e–Revenue Management Information System (TeRMIS).
Minister Ummy told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that TARURA has already rectified many issues that were identified when the system was launched in early October.
“Using TeRMIS to collect car parking fees will close gaps in revenue collection and let government money flow straight to its coffers. Because of its relevance, I’m bringing it back into usage on December 1, 2021.
“I’d like to take this occasion to urge the public, particularly those who drive to cooperate fully once this system is operational,” she said. She also urged TARURA to educate the public, particularly in the regions that began using the system, such as Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Singida, Iringa, and Dodoma so that there is sufficient awareness before it reintroduced the system.
Ms Mwalimu stated that in order to achieve President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s goal of ensuring urban sanitation and safety, the PO-RALG office is finalising procedures to ensure that a portion of the revenue from car parking fees is allocated to the relevant Local Government Authorities (LGAs) with effect from 2022/2023 fiscal year.
The funds will also be used to pay for road maintenance as well as the installation and operation of street lights. “The government is focusing on transferring responsibility for parking fee collection to local governments so that TARURA may focus on its principal job of road and bridge building and maintenance,” Ms Mwalimu added.
After receiving public concerns regarding TeRMIS, the government temporarily suspended its use on October 9th. She instructed the Permanent Secretary in the President’s Office (RALG) to meet with TARURA experts to work on the system’s difficulties as identified by the public. Customers not being told of timely parking charge claims was one of motorists’ concerns, according to her.
The issue has been fixed, and it will issue customers a bill specifying the time, the amount claimed, date, and location when they use the parking lot.
Another issue was high parking fees, which have been resolved by improving the regulations controlling parking in Dar es Salaam, where the hourly parking fee will be 500/- and the daily parking fee will be 2,500/-, as opposed to 500/- and 4500/- charged previously.
Mwanza and Arusha will pay 500/- per hour and 1,500/- per day, while the rest of the Municipalities and cities will pay 300/- per hour and 1000/- per day, with City Council paying 500/- per day.
“We considered various variables in developing these requirements, including the strong demand for car parking spots in each individual city. These regulations are intended to allow people to park and pay for hours or days,” she explained.
Ms Mwalimu further said motorists will now be required to pay parking fee within 14 days, rather than the previous seven days, from the time they utilised the parking lot, and if they do not pay within that time, they will be required to pay the parking fee plus a fine of 10,000/-, rather than the 30,000/- previously imposed.
The penalty for going over your debt limit after seven days has been removed. Similarly, she has directed ministry personnel to analyse all debts incurred during the TeRMIS’ first implementation and file a debt cancellation application to the authorities on behalf of all motorists.
The minister stated that PO-RALG and TARURA have improved the system in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Planning and that the reference number (Control number) can now be obtained in one minute using a bill issued by a tax collector, TeRMIS and GePG mobile applications available on Google Play store, dialling *152*00#, and the website www.termis.tarura.go.t
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