Friday, February 24, 2006

NCC Revenue Collection

Digital maps
Nairobians have started receiving invoices for land rates in 2006. The Nairobi City Council uses data from Geomaps to come up with valuations and land rates whose calculations are not easily understood. E.g. one bill assesses a house about 0.6% in 2006 land rates, and with additional penalties of 3% per month. And it is not clear if these rates are legal.

Tow thugs

Not content with smashing outdoor restaurants, teams from the city council have now taken harassment in the name of revenue collection to a new level. 5 PM is the cut off time in the city, after which parking is free of charge. But now if a car is illegally parked in the evening (usually the owner is in a bar somewhere) it is likely to be towed away by a council land rover. This is often preceded by a standoff between angry bar patrons on one side and the rungu-armed team who travel in each land rover. The owner later has to part with a few thousand shillings to release the car.

It is already difficult to find decent parking near many popular bars as all the good spaces are taken up by taxis. Imagine how bad things would be if they extended this new rule to more Westlands, Hurlingam or other bar-filled areas of the city.

3 comments:

Acolyte said...

Those tow truck people always made me get so pissed!What's worse is that traffic cops own some of them thus giving them license to act as they see fit!
As for land rates at least they are being sent in good time.It was not amusing when you went to lands office or city hall to find an astronomical figure due!

bankelele said...

Acolyte: They are ruthless and they don't follow any standards. e.g. It's ok for cars to park ON pavements or GK cars to park anywhere unmolested, but if you pause in front of your bank (for five minutes) traffic cops will jump into your car and order you to drive away and make a settlement...

Orkoiyot said...

@b: sorry for putting you to task.... but where's the notice about the 5pm cut-off? That's pretty serious! Is that for weekends & weekdays as well?

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