NO PARKING FEES FOR SOME MUNICIPALITY PARKING SPACES

We have received information that the public who use the space are being charged by the company that used to manage the parking premises

The public need not pay for parking at several public parking spaces coming under the purview of the Dehiwela-mount Lavinia Municipality, several Councillors said.

UNP Councillor Yamika Nalinda Rajapakse said a tender was yet to be called for the management of public parking spaces in the municipality area.

“We have received information that the public who use the space are being charged by the company that used to manage the parking premises. We would like to inform the public that they need not pay for parking until a new tender has been called. We will inform the public as to the progress of this issue,” he said. The Councillor went on to say that members of the public can lodge complaints at the Kohuwela, Dehiwela and Mount Lavinia police stations if they are charged for parking lots coming under the purview of the municipality.

“We have already informed the relevant police stations of this and hope the public will not be inconvenienced in a great manner. Two individuals who collected money from the public for parking at these locations were taken into custody by the police this week.”

Shedding light on the issue, Mr. Rajapakse said the contract of the previous management company had come to an end last year. Even though tenders had been called for in December the applications received were not viable for the municipality.

“The tender was for Rs. 40 lakhs and as there was no one who came close to this, we allowed the previous company to continue with the charging process. However, they have been charging the public for parking in an illegal manner.”

The inefficient manner in which the tender process was conducted has caused a loss to the municipality. The Councillor stated that he had informed the public of the issue through his twitter account, while measures had been taken to put up notices informing the public not to pay parking fees until further notice.

Parking spaces coming under the purview of the Dehiwela-mount Lavinia Municipal Council can be found in Nugegoda, in the vicinity of the Dehiwela zoo and the Colombo South Teaching Hospital.

We have already informed the relevant police stations of this and hope the public will not be inconvenienced in a great manner. Two individuals who collected money from the public for parking at these locations were taken into custody by the police this week