Parking Levy Controversy: New provision lawful, to eliminate indiscriminate collections — LASG

…Debunks claims of levy on parks of private residence

By Moses Adeniyi

The Lagos State Government (LASG)  has called on the public to disregard  “false claims” making rounds over  parking levy to be imposed by its Agency, the Lagos State Parking Authority (LASPA), stating that it is on point of law for the benefit of Lagosians.

This is just as the Government has said new development around parking levy was to provide framework for employment opportunities and generation of revenue, by eliminating indiscriminate levies imposed by unidentified actors.

Recall that a post had recently gone viral on social media, stating that LASPA issued a letter signed by its General Manager, levying a Lekki-based company a total sum of N290,000 for the parking lot outside their premises.

The report had generated controversies, which the government has described as a product of gap in knowledge of the law.

At a media engagement on the activities of the newly created agency, LASPA, the State’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, said the claims that the Government was to levy people for parking in their private residence was a craft of falsehood.

Describng those peddling the erroneous views around the levy as “bystanders and parrots who do not know anything about the law,” he said the claim “is a fallacy of the ear,” stating that it is a product of raising false alarm for the political season.

“It is not true, it is an attempt to malign the government by mischievous people. We are not surprised to see things like this because we are in the season of politics. When it comes to this kind of matter everybody seems to be an expert, everybody seems to be a lawyer,” he said.

This is just as the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederick Oladeinde described the controversies generated over the subject as a product of “political jobbers and people with limited knowledge on the constitutional mandates of LASPA.”

He said against “the erroneous claims of certain individuals and groups, LASPA has the power by law to collect park levies.”

“As it is usually the case, especially in a political season, political jobbers and people with limited knowledge on the constitutional mandates of LASPA have tried fruitlessly to exaggerate the issue by playing to the gallery,” he said.

Describing the Agency as “a one stop authority, providing solutions to parking challenges across the State,” he said the idea that informed the creation of the Agency was to put an end to impediments arising from indiscriminate parking and collection of levies.

Highlighting the mandates of LASPA, he said “LASPA was created to find lasting solutions to the issues of indiscriminate and illegal parking across the state.”

This, according to him, “will aid prompt reduction of traffic gridlock experienced by everyone.”

“The agency was established, among others, to promote parking policies tailored to suit the peculiarity of the State in line with modern international standards towards achieving a smart city,” he added.

According to him, the Agency was also empowered to remove all “impediments arising from indiscriminate parking on carriageways, thereby increasing the carriageway capacity on the roads, improving the flow of traffic and reducing travel time.”

“First on our mandate is to improve the parking culture. We also believe that the establishment of the Authority also enables employment opportunities for the youths. In doing so, it is expected that revenue generation will come naturally,” he said.

The Commissioner said the Agency has the “mandate to charge fees on private commercial parks, non-commercial parks and other parking lots on any facility provided by the Authority.”

He argued that against the exorbitant cost commuters bear on stopovers with the usage of commercial parks, LASPA levy was flatly low and considerate.

“Let me emphasize that most private commercial parks charge the Lagosians between N500 to N1,000 parking dues per hour and each person parking at these respective parks can have 4 stop over which sums up to N2,000 or N4,000 daily.

“At the end of the year, the commercial park owner will realize over N182,500 or N365,000 if charges is per hour or gain a total N730,000 or N1,460,000 for 4 stopovers. This is the price most Lagosians pay to commercial park owners.

“LASPA levy of N80,000 divided by the No of days in a year result to N219 only against the above charges of commercial park owners.

“The difference is clear as the government is quite considerate and responsive in making the environment conducive for all,” he argued further.

He mentioned that as “a government that respects the constitution as the sole source of its engagement with the public, the State Government will never resort to any unconstitutional means in its dealing with the people.”

Enjoining Lagosians to cooperate with the agency and other similar stakeholders in carrying out “its laudable mandate,” Oladeinde   implored interested and concerned members of the public to visit the Agency’s office for necessary information and assistance.

The General Manager, LASPA, Mrs. Adebisi Adelabu, said the State Government is moving to the level where every developer/builder must accommodate park provisions in their building plans before construction.

She said the prevailing order where buildings have been built without provisions for parking space, have had telling effects on infrastructure with  gridlock which accompanies parking indiscriminately.

She said the Agency has been engaging with religious organisations and businesses on the need to establish parks for their worshippers and customers.

She mentioned that the need to reorder indiscriminate collection of levies for parking was important to channel the funds into infrastructure to solve existing problems.

She said the State was encouraging the development of parks by private stakeholders.