Unruly traffic, worsened by an unmanaged parking system, bothers nearly everyone in Kathmandu. The traffic is something that citizens have tolerated for long but getting a right place for parking is an extra hassle.

If you get to park in a busy business area, you should consider yourself lucky. But the parking charges are exorbitant, an issue that the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has long neglected.

But no more.

In what should come as a relief to motorcycle and car owners, the KMC has announced that commercial business operators will be prosecuted if they are found collecting parking fees from their customers.

“We will immediately reach out to business owners if they charge a parking fee from customers at shopping malls, eateries, hospitals and any other public service provider,” said KMC Police chief Raju Nath Pandey.

If customers are forcibly made to pay parking fees, they can call City Police Inspector Dharma Bhandari directly at 9851051610, Pandey added.

“I am looking after the cases,” said Bhandari. “If anyone calls this number, I will immediately reach the location with my team and fix the problem.”

Surendra Bajagain, media facilitator at the KMC, said the new law was passed during the 13th Municipal Assembly held last month.

Regarding the punishment for business owners, the metropolis is still holding discussions.

“Customers should get a stamp on their purchase receipt and when it is shown at the parking lot of a particular business complex, they need not pay the parking charge,” said Bajagain.

Bajagain said the KMC took the decision as it got a lot of complaints from customers for being overcharged by business houses while shopping within their complexes.

Urban planners have welcomed the KMC’s drive, but have questioned whether it will be monitored regularly.

“As the KMC has waived property tax for multi-storey commercial buildings that have been designed for underground parking purposes, its recent decision is justified. But it should also think of other sustainable parking alternatives,” said urban planner Suman Meher Shrestha.

Earlier, too, the KMC had come up with parking plans for the city during former mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya’s time, but things went kaput.

In July 2019, the City, in collaboration with a private firm named Wheels Truly Yours, had launched the ‘smart parking’ system under a public-private partnership model, purportedly to ‘solve the parking problem’ in New Road and Durbarmarg areas as a pilot project.

For this purpose, ‘Park KTM’ app was also launched from where people could book parking spaces for 700 two-wheelers and over 200 four-wheelers at a time through android phones, but the app has long been defunct.

KMC officials said that Wheels Truly Yours is putting pressure on the City to renew their tender which is expiring this year.

“We are not going to renew it because they have not done anything substantial to solve the parking problem,” said Nabin Man Manandhar, spokesperson at the City.

In a bid to manage parking lots in Kathmandu and control exorbitant parking charges, the KMC on July 24 published a notice to regulate the parking system and it also fixed parking charges based on different spaces.

The notice that was published a week ago stated that KMC does not give permission to park vehicles on the roadsides within the City. Meanwhile, the KMC has allowed free parking for vehicles that carry people with disabilities and for electric vehicles.

Under its plan, the KMC has allocated two designated places.

Under area number one, core areas such as Tripureshwar, Ratnapark, Bhotahiti, Kesharmahal and Lainchaur are included. In these areas, two-wheelers will have to pay charges of Rs15 for up to half an hour of parking, and Rs25 for every subsequent hour. Meanwhile, for four-wheelers, Rs50 will be charged for the first half an hour, and Rs80 an hour thereon.

Away from the core areas, the KMC has announced parking charges of Rs15 per hour for two wheelers and Rs40 per hour for four wheelers.

It has also given permission to individuals to construct personal buildings for business purposes where people can run their underground parking for public vehicles charging fees. After Balen Shah was elected Kathmandu mayor last year, he launched a drive to clear the basements of buildings if they were used for purposes other than parking. His argument was that building owners leased the spaces meant for parking out to traders and forced vehicle owners to use streets for parking.

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

The KMC in its notice also asked people to look out for its logo or board in the designated parking areas and park their vehicles only if they spot it.

It also emphasised digitalisation and electronic billing in all parking areas. “Each operator should submit data to the KMC on a daily basis,” the notice said.