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January / February 2006
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EDITORIAL

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Resolving the Parking Dispute

The changes in parking arrangements in Kandy town that were made by the KMC following the handing over of the new multi-storey car park to private management has created a lot of controversy. Otherwise staid businessmen have become militant overnight and have gone to the extent of advocating non-payment of the new parking fees. The basics of the issue are quite straight forward.

KMC has to pay Rs 950,000 per month for several years to come to settle a part of the loan taken from the Asian Development Bank to build the car park. Each month the Council earned about Rs 600,000, spent Rs 1.1m on maintenance and incurred a loss of Rs 500,000 when it ran the facility between July 14 and October 31. However, the KMC also earned Rs 600,000 from parking fees in town but the profit was only Rs 200,000 because wages for the parking attendants cost Rs 400,000. In short KMC was operating parking in Kandy at a substantial loss. As a solution the Council decided to privatize car parking management in the city.

The owner of the parking management company Mr. Thusitha Wijesena is also the developer who is constructing the large shopping cum office complex called the Kandy City Centre located next to the new car park. As our page 01 story explains he claims that he is currently making a loss on the car park. But he is probably exaggerating his loss because he is levying a much higher fee than the Council did on street parking. In good private sector style he is also enforcing the fee with effective staff management. The Kandy businessmen and the three wheeler er operators are not happy. They complain that the fee is too high.

The three wheeler operators have a case. A fee of Rs 11.50 per hour or any fraction thereof is a large amount for a three wheeler that earns a few hundred rupees for a day. A lower monthly fee appears to be the most practical compromise. But the fee should not be a mere token of Rs 200 or Rs 300 per month as three wheeler operators demand. It should be a fee that is fair to them as well as to the rate payers of the city who have to pay for the maintenance of the KMC. Three wheelers also should not be allowed to park wherever they wish. The KMC must set aside clearly demarcated parking areas for three wheelers. In addition KMC must control the number of three wheelers that are allowed to operate so that those who pay the parking fee are able to earn a decent income.
The case of the Kandy town shopkeepers is very weak. It is well known that shopkeepers bring their vans early in the morning and monopolize the parking spots paying little or nothing for parking. Streets are not the private property of businessmen. City street parking spaces in a modern city are some of the most expensive real estate in any country. There is no reason to allow a few businessmen to use such space free of charge. They have to pay a reasonable fee for such use.

As to what is reasonable depends on the circumstances. The KMC currently earns a rent of Rs 2.8m per month from the private parking management company. That allows the Council to pay the ADB loan and also make a net income for the benefit of the Kandy community. The private operator will give up unless he gets a reasonable income. If the KMC again takes over and makes a loss, the Council will be in the ridiculous situation of paying tax rupees to subsidize parking for the relatively rich including the Kandy business community. It will also have to cut back on other municipal services. That simply is not fair and must not happen. Mr. Wijesena must be given maximum support to implement the currant program.

Finally two parenthetic points. As the developer of the Kandy City Centre Mr. Wijesena readily admits that he can profit from having the car park adjacent to his new building. Coordinating development is a good thing. But there is also potential for conflict of interest. The KMC must ensure that Mr. Wijesena does not manipulate the system for his own private gain at public expense.

The other point is about location of car parks in the town. The new car park will be more useful when the proposed town hall, auditorium, theatres and other facilities are constructed adjacent to it. But it is not convenient for many who have business to transact at some distance from the car park. Many years ago The Kandy News in an editorial pointed out that what Kandy really needs is a few smaller car parks in strategic locations. The KMC must have a plan to provide such a facility.