FCTA Reintroduces ‘Park And Pay’ Policy

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) said it has reintroduced the Park and Pay policy in the FCT, which is set to commence effect in the first quarter of 2023.

The director of traffic management, FCT Transportation secretariat, Wadata Bodinga, who announced this yesterday in Abuja, said the on-street parking policy was to bring sanity to the city.

He said the population of the residents leads to heavy usage competition, which brings about traffic obstruction and congestion that expose pedestrians to security and road hazards.

Bondinga said that the replan scheme by the administration will mitigate traffic irregularities being experienced by motorists.

He said, “This new park and pay policy will increase the safety and security of vehicles and pedestrians, improve aesthetics, beautify green verges, flowers and protect walkways from the motoring public. It will also reduce traffic and pollution”.

According to him, the first phase of the exercise which would be human-friendly will commence in the Maitama and Wuse areas of the Federal Capital City (FCC).

It could be recalled that 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.

Bondinga said there were issues involved during the commencement of the on-street parking that brought about its suspension.

“FCT Administration had embarked on various measures aimed at addressing the concerns raised by the Court and the public with regards to the scheme, the 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.

Although the director was not clear on the involvement of the private operators to be running the system, he stated that they will cover the whole designated places.