In August last year, Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Mayor Balenda Shah was praised for starting a demolition drive in commercial buildings’ basements and clearing the illegal businesses being run from there. His intent was to convert all the basements of the buildings into parking spaces.

The mayor wanted to solve the perennial parking problem of Kathmandu. Even though Shah took the initiative, the parking lots were still not well managed and people had to pay exorbitant charges to park their vehicles.

In a fresh bid to solve the problem, the KMC on Monday published a notice to regulate the parking system in Kathmandu, and it has also fixed parking charges based on different spaces.

“The KMC does not give permission to park vehicles on the roadsides within the City,” the KMC said in a notice on Monday.

KMC also said it won’t charge any parking fee for vehicles that carry people with disabilities. People are now allowed to park their vehicles only in the designated spaces.

Under area number one, the KMC has included core areas such as Tripureshwar, Ratnapark, Bhotahiti, Kesharmahal and Lainchaur. In these areas, the KMC has fixed parking charges of Rs15 for two wheelers up to half an hour, and Rs25 for every subsequent hour. Meanwhile, for four-wheelers, it will charge Rs50 for the first half an hour, and Rs80 per hour thereon.

For areas that are beyond the core area, the KMC has announced parking charges of Rs15 per hour for two wheelers and Rs40 per hour for four wheelers.

The KMC has also given permission to individuals to build personal buildings for business purposes where people can run their own underground paid parking for public vehicles.

The KMC also fixed a separate parking cost for private house owners or business operators. For two wheelers, one needs to pay Rs15 up to half-an-hour and Rs25 for each hour. For every 15 minutes afterwards, four-wheeler owners have to pay an additional Rs5. For four wheelers of private houses, business owners can charge Rs40 for the first half an hour and Rs75 per hour.

The KMC also asked people to look out for its logo or board in the designated parking areas and only then park their vehicles. It has also put emphasis on digitalisation and electronic billing system in all parking areas. Each operator should submit information to the KMC on a daily basis, the notice said.