US$45.5m multi-storey car park to be constructed in Nairobi, Kenya

Posted on : Monday , 11th August 2014

City Hall Nairobi has announced a tender notice for the construction of a 3000 multi-storey car park in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD). The project involves developing an AT Sunken Car Park building at a cost of US$45.5m.

The project will be undertaken through a public private partnership where the Government of Nairobi County is expected to provide the land for the project, while investors will provide the funds needed.
Parking slots in Nairobi’s CBD is not adequate enough to cater for the number of cars in the city centre.

A Parking Survey by IBM in 2011 found that motorists on average take 31.7 minutes against a global average of 19.8 minutes to find a vacant parking slot. The CBD has about 9000 parking slots operated by the County Government.

The move to construct the building was made in anticipation of the large commuter buses for the planned metro transportation system that are to start operating in the capital soon.

The county seeks to reduce parking bays on some of the busy roads to create extra lanes to accommodate these large buses. A basic system with a fleet of 266 Foton high capacity buses will be built to cover the core area and main roads.

The design of the building is made up of 7 stores which are expected to go up to 30 depending on investor inputs. The building will also house offices, restaurants and recreational facilities. The exact date for completion of the project has not been laid down although it is expected to not exceed 24 months once approved.

Parking fees will be charged according to the amount of time the car spends at the parking site instead of the flat rate of 300 Ksh paid for the entire day. This will help those who spend less time in the capital.