An Expatriate Causes Pandemonium Over Parking In Abuja

An unidentified expatriate today caused a ruckus over parking in a central area of Abuja (the federal capital of Nigeria).  


According to the article reported by Dolapo Adetunji of N2N America, the brouhaha was set off when the man was asked to move his vehicle to a designed parking as he had illegally parked. The civil defense corps policing the property was simply attempting to inform the man that it is “no parking” zone.

He is believed to have lost his composure and appearing very agitated went into out bursts screaming, “Who employed you? Who gave you this uniform?” He also allegedly hit one of the officers before kicking a sign board during his tantrum. He drove off after this tirade.

The on-lookers and the officers were bewildered by the attitude of entitlement the foreigner man portrayed, leaving them wondering if that’s how they behaved in their own countries.

The identity of the man has not been established.

Credit:  Dolapo Adetunji (Reporter) & Photos by Sunny Nwabuike

24/08/11

Park-and-Ride Facilities Users in South Africa are Frustrated Due to Insufficient Parking

THE excitement of outlying residents over the establishment of the MyCiti public transport bus route up the west coast road has been dampened by a lack of park-and-ride facilities for those not serviced by the MyCiti feeder routes.


The MyCiti trunk route from the city centre up the west coast along the congested R27 to Blouberg was opened in May this year, enabling commuters to avoid sitting in rush hour traffic.


Feeder routes servicing suburbs such as Blouberg, Parklands and Table View transport residents to the main station at Bayside Mall where they transfer onto the trunk route into the city.


Commuters further north, in suburbs like Melkbosstrand and Atlantis, and even in Darling beyond the city's boundary have also welcomed the service as it allows them to avoid the congestion which builds up from Table View.


But finding parking close to the Bayside Mall bus station has put a damper on their enthusiasm.


Darling resident Paul Darne said he travels into Cape Town once a week to conduct business in the city and welcomed the opportunity to skip the rush hour traffic.


He said after driving to Blouberg he parked in the Table View shopping centre opposite the Bayside Mall as there was a large and predominantly empty parking area with no parking charges.


He said he parked on the perimeter of the car park and was upset to find a notice on his car warning him that if he parked there again he would have his wheel clamped.


The Bayside Mall, he said, was not an option as it charged an hourly parking rate.


"I would love to use the bus to connect to town," said Darne.


While the city is extending the trunk and feeder routes further along the R27, planning to extend all the way to Atlantis, by its own admission it has not planned for park-and-ride facilities.


City spokesperson Kylie Hatton said commuters driving to the bus station was "not something that we want to encourage too much".


Hatton said the focus was on setting up more feeder routes than supplying parking facilities.


The primary focus was extending the MyCiti routes, she said.


"The park-and-ride is not a primary priority for our project team."


Table View Rate Payers Associations (TVRA) vice chairman Eric Joffe said the city "didn't think out of the box" and consider practical difficulties.


Table View Shopping Centre manager Athena Beard said the centre did not have a formal arrangement with the city to allow MyCiti commuters to park there.


However, she confirmed that meetings had been held with the city regarding providing park-and-ride facility and were "on-going in order to understand the city's requirements and marry these with the centre's".


She said at present commuters who regularly required parking in order to catch the MyCiti bus could make arrangements with the centre's management.


Across the road, Bayside Mall landlord Rael Abramowitz said discussions over parking had taken place with the city about "two or more years ago" and the council was told there would be capacity for commuters to park at the mall.


He said there were about 30 people who had made arrangements to park at the mall. However, the mall charged a monthly fee of R250.












Credit: African News
28 August 2011

$5 Million for Parking Technology Developed in Africa

During a recent business meeting in Lagos (Nigeria), a US based parking payment solutions company name undisclosed with a 5-man delegates headed by Mr D.C Archer witnessed the live presentation and 2nd phase testing of "parkbycodedcard." 


To read more, please follow the link http://www.prlog.org/11635706-5-million-for-parking-technology-developed-in-africa.html









Credit: Prlog Press Release
24/08/11

Uproar Unabated in Liberia Over City Parking

Decision by the City Council of Monrovia headed by acting City Mayor Mary Brown continues to be a source of acrimonies dispute in the country, leading to court action against the municipal government.

Central Monrovia has taken a fresh new shape following the refurbishments of streets by an expatriate company and the design of the streets with traffic signs by the Monrovia City Government.

It was not long with the controversial head of the city government, Mary Broh, passed around flyers announcing a change in traffic movement and payment of fees for parking in central city.

The edict of the City Hall and its effect came like rebels from the north. It commenced around the commercial enclave of Randall Street on which banks and expatriate merchandise moguls are centralized.

As street attendants hired by the City Hall served tickets of L$50 per hour to car owners around the heavily commercialized street, there were no loud alarms heard at this initial stage because, as Liberians treated their compatriots during the civil war, the effect was not directly affecting them.

Then the fees collection hit Carey, Gurley and Ashmun Streets and eventually every other street, like a town-trap or slow poison.

The alarms came--the loudest--and never ceased since.

Supporters of the ordinance argue that Liberia as the oldest country in Africa and Monrovia therefore the oldest city cannot be exempted from best practices found in even younger counties and cities.

The supporters say parking fees are collected in cities in the United States and parts of Africa and help to bolster municipal budget and help keep cities clean and beautiful.

According to the supporters of the city parking fees ordinance, Central Monrovia is becoming unsightly and chaotic because all kinds of vehicles enter the city and take to street corners in haphazard and hazardous way.

It is to sanitize things in the country’s commercial and political capital that the parking fees are imposed, they argue.

They say those who criticize the fees charged by the City Government are ironically the same people to criticize the Government for maintaining a dirty city and who praise cities of other countries for their beauty.

There are three categories of Liberians who oppose the parking fees--those who contend that the country’s economy is not ripe for such an exercise and that it should not be encouraged after all; those who think the exercise is necessary but the fee of L$50 per hour is exorbitant; and those who believe the exercise is illegal and fraudulent and must therefore be stopped.

Some Liberians say justification for the car parking fees in Monrovia by comparing Liberia and other countries is faulty and indefensible because the economies are incomparable.

Liberia is just emerging from long years of war and the citizens are strenuously endeavoring to cope, unlike the USA and other economies that have been steady, peaceful and prosperous for long.

As one pundit contended, even many of those owning cars get them from loans which viciously slash their incomes and disable them to be able to cope with several other demands, including an L$50 per hour parking fee.

Some Liberians agree with the parking fee ordinance but say the amount charged is excruciatingly exorbitant for most of the people who own cars.

“Parking your car for L$50 per hours means car owner working or doing business in Central Monrovia pays at least L$400 per day, L$2000 per week or L$8000, over US$100 per month,” James Mayson-Gboor, a businessman down Water Side who leaves his vehicle on Ashmun/Randall Street every day.

“This is totally absurd, particularly for us who don’t generate a profit of that amount in a month,” he said. “If they mean well, they should reduce the amount to at least $20 per house or $1000 per month. We need some order in Monrovia and imposing such fees will do, but we cannot afford an exploitation of the situation by Mary Broh.”

There are other Liberians who also believe that collection of parking fees by the City Government is beyond the scope of Acting City Mayor Mary Broh and is illegal.

Leading these Liberians is human rights defender T. Dempster Brown, who has taken Madam Broh to the Supreme Court in question of her decision and its constitutional implications.

The human rights lawyer objects that Acting City Mayoress does not have the right to arbitrarily impose taxes.
He pointed to Article 34, Section (d) of the Liberian Constitution which states that “The Legislature shall have the power to levy taxes, duties, impose, excise and other revenues…,” this provision of the Liberian Constitution forbids non-judicial officer or entity to exceed its jurisdiction.

He objected Broh’s role as an Acting City Mayor, operating under Executive law, to erect parking lots and to impose taxes without taking into consideration Article 34 of the Liberian Constitution which forbids her from doing so. He said the Executive Law gives her one year to act as Mayor.

According to Brown, Broh is in total disregard of the Liberian Constitution by collecting fifty Liberian Dollars per hour for parking on the parking lots erected by her.

The writ he issued to the Supreme Court states that the fees being charged by Broh are exorbitant and unconstitutional and that they are not even going into the Government’s revenue but into her personal accounts.

He therefore prayed that the Supreme Court of Liberia grant his petition and restrain and prohibit Broh from further collecting and imposing taxes and from violating the Liberian Constitution.







Credit: Africa News
August 2011

City Motorists Decry Parking Fines in Rwanda

Kigali motorists have lodged complaints about the unfair criteria used to fine parking offences.Motorists who allegedly refuse to pay parking fees of Rwf 100, are fined Rwf 50,000.

Normally, each vehicle parked at designated streets in the city is required to pay an hourly parking fee of Rwf100, and those in default of the rule are subjected to a fine.

Most of the motorists interviewed by The New Times apportion the blame on the parking fee collectors who place parking receipts on vehicles and then leave the spot.

The parking fee collectors are under the auspices of Kigali Veterans Cooperative Association (KVCS).
Emmanuel Nkusi, a motorist, expressed frustration with the collectors.

"There are times I park my car and go about my businesses. When I come back, I find a receipt, then look for the parking fee collectors in vain," Nkusi lamented.

He said that efforts to explain the situation to the KVCS officers fall on deaf ears as they maintain that he pays the fine.

Another motorist, Eric Kimenyi, said his log book was confiscated after he defaulted on a parking ticket.
He said he parked outside a supermarket and upon coming out, he found a receipt but could not trace who to pay the fee after which he drove off.

"The traffic police stopped me one day and asked for my permit, insurance and registration card. I had everything. Then KVCS people came saying that they were looking for car defaulters and my car's number plate was on the list," Kimenyi narrated.

He said that without further clarification apart from claims that he was a defaulter, they confiscated his registration card and told him to report to the KVCS offices.

Kimenyi says that officials at the KVCS office alleged that there was no way to prove his case and he ended up paying the Rwf50,000 fine.

He says that his registration card is still with the police.

According to the Director General of KVCS, Godfrey Bbosa, the parking fee collectors are undergoing several training programs to improve their operations.

The Kigali City Communications Director, Bruno Rangira, said there has been a lot of complaints, especially concerning the criteria used in charging parking fines.

"We shall have a meeting with KVCS to iron out the issues that have been raised," he pledged.









Credit: Africa News
August 2011

Face of African Parking Entrepreneur 2011

Parking in Africa blog recently nominated Henok Tesfaye the President and CEO of U-Street Parking inc. as this year face of African Parking Entrepreneur ...

Ask any of the thousands of Ethiopian immigrants working as parking attendants or cabbies around Washington whom they aspire to be like, and you'll probably hear about Henok Tesfaye.


Tesfaye, 37, started as a parking valet in downtown Washington two decades ago, saving a few hundred dollars each month to pay for business classes and start his company. Today, his U Street Parking (named after his first parking lot, at 12th and U streets NW) ranks among the biggest parking companies in the region.

His success is part of a wave of accomplishment by Ethiopians, who began settling in Washington after fleeing violence in their native country in the 1970s. Tesfaye's 12-year ascent in Washington's notoriously cutthroat parking industry is especially notable because it was so unlikely.

Parking is not an easy business. It's marked by high volume, long hours and low margins. For Tesfaye, the years of 16-hour days and endless financial pressures culminated in a phone call in December. A year after partnering with a Los Angeles-based parking giant, Tesfaye won a lucrative contract to oversee 37,000 public parking spaces at Dulles International and Reagan National airports, including four garages, three surface lots and a valet service.

"When I got the call that we had got the contract, I cried," said Tesfaye, from his office in a rowhouse on Rhode Island Avenue NE. "We were a long shot. We've always been a long shot."

U Street's 25 percent share of the nearly $1.3 million in annual management and incentive fees from the airport contracts, which started this summer, could net the company millions over the next five years, along with increased visibility and other clients.

Tesfaye had become the Ethiopian version of the American Dream.

"He's the leading young entrepreneur in our community. . . . I know him from when he was a parking attendant, and it's great to see these types of businesses grow," said Dereje Desta, the publisher of Zethiopia, an Ethiopian newspaper in the District.
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The Washington area's Ethiopian community is the largest in the nation. According to Census Bureau data, about 30,000 Ethiopian immigrants -- about one-fifth of those in the United States -- live in the region. But the local figure has a history of being underreported and probably tops 100,000, according to the Ethiopian American Constituency Foundation and the Ethiopian Community Development Council.

Ethiopians came in droves after a bloody military coup in 1974, and they worked in low-paying first jobs as cabbies and cooks and parking attendants. But they have begun to stake their claims. Tesfaye's company now employs 100 people, including many immigrants from Ethiopia and Mauritania.

Open for business

Ethiopian businesses have sprung up across the Washington area. A new crop has appeared in the Skyline section of Falls Church, and restaurants and coffee shops are opening across Shaw, especially along Ninth Street NW, known informally as "Little Ethiopia." (Five years ago, an attempt to get a formal designation from the city failed.)

"We've grown, and now we've really begun to make a name for ourselves, in the business sense," said Tamrat Medhin, a financial adviser at Access Capital, a Falls Church real estate investment firm that has poured millions into luxury properties in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

Other Ethiopian success stories include Abebe "Abe" Abraham, the founder of CMI Management in Alexandria, which has landed millions of dollars' worth of government maintenance and other contracts since it was started in 1989; restaurateur Zed Wondemu, who started Zed's restaurant in Georgetown and has since expanded into Virginia; and the Ethiopian-born doctors at Blue Nile Medical Center in Alexandria.


It's a younger generation of Ethiopians, however, that is making the biggest strides, community members say. Hailu Fulass Hailu, a professor of linguistics at the University of the District of Columbia who left Ethiopia in 1977 and arrived in the District two years later, said many hardworking Ethiopians younger than 40 "are quite adventurous, and many have turned that into being quite successful."

Many of Hailu's generation came to the United States on education visas and scholarships, he said. "I find it remarkable because the success we have now is not about education," he said. "It's about risk."

The Ethiopian Community Development Council, based in Arlington County, has stimulated business growth by granting micro-loans to entrepreneurs such as Tesfaye. Recent clients include the owners of a gas station and a salon in Northern Virginia, who have expanded and hired dozens of other immigrants.

"With more and more people coming, there's a greater diversity with the types of businesses we're getting and the types of Africans, especially with the young," said Tsehaye Teferra, the council's president.

A chance to expand

Tesfaye's start is reminiscent of the modest beginnings of some of his parking-lot predecessors. One of the local industry giants, Colonial Parking, was started by two young George Washington University graduates on a tiny lot at 25th and E streets NW in the early 1950s. All-day parking cost 30 cents.

In 1998, Tesfaye, then working as a parking valet in downtown Washington, was exhausted and struggling to pay his bills. He was 24 and, as he puts it, "clueless about the world. It was difficult."
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After years of saving, Tesfaye took a gamble on a rough-and-tumble stretch of U Street NW, renting an $800-a-month, 20-car lot at 12th and U streets.

Problem was, people thought it was too dangerous to park there. "I would get out on the street and wave people in, but no one would come," Tesfaye said.

But as the revitalized U Street corridor slowly grew, so, too, did Tesfaye's business. The parking lot expanded to include a used-car lot. Valet service was added at a few nearby restaurants and bars. Tesfaye's three brothers immigrated to the United States to join the rapidly growing family business. Tesfaye took out a $35,000 loan from the Ethiopian Community Development Council, and his company took over management of the 1,200-car parking lot on the site of the old Washington Convention Center.

By the mid-2000s, Tesfaye was a success story. He has held fundraisers for the mayor and bought a home in Alexandria. He even bought his mother a restaurant along U Street and named it Etete, her Amharic nickname.

L&R Group, which oversees parking at the New York area's three international airports and at Oakland International Airport in California, reached out to Tesfaye in late 2008. The company wanted to bolster its presence in the Washington area to compete for the Dulles and National contracts.














Credit: Parking-in-Africa
August 2011

'Street parking deal to stay'

A top Harare City Council official says a controversial street parking deal with South African firm Easihold will remain in place, as hordes of youths clashed with city parking attendants in the city centre yesterday morning.

Council’s deal with Easihold has been under the spotlight as it emerged that the city was getting peanuts yet motorists were being forced to pay exorbitant parking fees by Easipark, the holding company of the joint venture.

Easipark workers told the Daily News yesterday that a group of youths chased them away in the morning, demanding to take over the lucrative street parking business.

“We only started work after police intervened,” said a parking attendant.

It was not possible to verify the reports with police. In May, Upfumi Kuvadiki, a youth group invaded the city centre demanding the termination of the joint venture deal and was only dispersed by police.

"But Thomas Muzuva, the incoming chairperson of council’s business committee, told the Daily News that a divorce with Easihold “is not an option”.

“One thing is certain. We are not pulling out of the joint venture agreement with Easihold SA as some are advocating. It is not an option we are considering and as a committee we will work hard to ensure sanity prevails and that council acts within legal confines,” said Muzuva.

“Those misguided elements that are agitating for a total pullout from the agreement do not understand the legal implications of the pullout and they forget that the South African company owns 40 percent of Easipark,” Muzuva said.

He said council signed an agreement that “unfortunately” gave the junior partner the right to appoint the same number of management officials as council, which is the senior partner with 60 percent shareholding.

The agreement, according to Muzuva, expressly stated that Easihold would enjoy sole charge of the day- to-day running of Easipark.

“The business committee will be meeting on the 18th  of August and we are going to request that the city abides by the agreement it signed and unfortunately it is Harare that is actually at the moment causing disruptions and acrimony in Easipark.

“In particular you will notice that the clique that is calling for the divorce with Easihold are former members of the city’s business committee and one wonders where their priorities lie,” he said.

Muzuva’s comments show that major fissures have emerged within the MDC dominated council, particularly after the reshuffle of committees.








Credit: Daily News
22/08/11

Libyans Celebrate in Parking Lot

As the news spread to major part of the city, some hotel residents and staff near to Green Square gathered at the parking lot to celebrate the good news ...

Euphoric Libyan rebels took control of most of Tripoli in a lightning advance Sunday, celebrating the victory in Green Square, the symbolic heart of Moammar Gadhafi's regime. Gadhafi's defenders quickly melted away as his 42-year rule crumbled, but the leader's whereabouts were unknown and pockets of resistance remained.

State TV broadcast Gadhafi's bitter pleas for Libyans to defend his regime. Opposition fighters captured his son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, who along with his father faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. Another son was under house arrest.

"It's over, frizz-head," chanted hundreds of jubilant men and women massed in Green Square, using a mocking nickname of the curly-haired Gadhafi. The revelers fired shots in the air, clapped and waved the rebels' tricolor flag. Some set fire to the green flag of Gadhafi's regime and shot holes in a poster with the leader's image.

Gadhafi’s appeal came as rebels closed in on Tripoli, claiming that the leader's regime was on its last legs.

Gadhafi's choice of words was anything but dignified as he tried to push his supporters to help him out of his misery. He said: "We have to put an end to this masquerade. You must march by the millions to free the destroyed towns" controlled by rebels he labeled as "traitors" and "rats."

In his umpteenth audio message carried on state television, without giving a clue where he was calling from, he went on to say: "These scum enter mosques to cry 'God is great.' They are dirty. They are defiling the mosques."

Most Libyans keep on asking why, if he is so brave, does the Libyan leader not get out of his hole to face the insurgents. If he has a battle to fight, he should do it himself, by example and get into the front to lead his remaining forces. Analysts believe that Gadhafi actions are cowardly. They keep on asking: “How could he pretend the people of Libya, ever so peaceful fight his own wars?

Earlier, cries of "Allahu Akbar" could be heard from mosques in the city's eastern sectors in support of the capital celebration.

Jubilant scenes of celebrations could also be seen in other cities recently captured by the insurgents, such as Zawiyah, Zliten, Gharyan, Sabratha, Brega and other smaller towns. 

Credit: Confidential Eye Witness
22/08/11

Rock Auto (Nigeria)

Rock Auto



Rock Auto(West Africa) Nigeria's answer to practical mobility. Rock Auto is the name of the vehicle and Mr Sunday Okpere is its creator.



Thirty five year-old Okpere has been fine tuning the "Rock Auto" persistently for the past four months to ensure its engine runs smoothly and the body looks curvy and flashy like any of the latest imported models on sale in Nigeria.

Okpere said his interest in building vehicles started when he was a child, making toy cars from discarded tins and wires for his friends at school.

Decades later, he decided to unveil his first moving vehicle.

The Rock Auto runs on a Peugeot engine. Okpere says he could not raise funds to build his own engine. The rest of the car is made up of discarded material and scrap metal collected from dumpsites.

Okpere says the Rock Auto is just the beginning.

"There are a lot of things in my brain, because what I am thinking of now is how to build a car for the masses, that will be cheaper for cheaper transport, that is the basic thing," he said.

The Rock auto may not be flashy but it attracts several admirers from his neighborhood of Yaba in the sprawling commercial city of Lagos.

It comes with a set of motorcycle headlights and side indicators, the dash board is bare except for a speedometer and fuel gauge. The 'sound system' is optional -- a transistor radio hung from the roof, and can be taken off and carried wherever one goes to avoid break ins.

It can comfortably carry four passengers.

Okpere declined to reveal how much money he had spent on his innovation and how much he would be willing to sell it for. It has a top speed of 100km/h



Ref



http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//RTV/2011/06/22/RTV1779411/

Mobius Motors (Kenya)

Mobius Motors



(East Africa) Kenya is home to a new automotive company called Mobius Motors. The answer to Africa's lack of transport for rural Africa. A unique venture that designs, manufactures and sells functional and affordable vehicles for the developing world.



This a great example of African automotive design at work on the continent. So far Mobius Motors has developed a working prototype namely Mobius One and is currently working on completing their second vehicle Mobius Two. Do watch this space for they are on a mission to take the made in Africa badge to the next level; Full Production.



Find out more about the founder and the company at large on their website.





http://www.mobiusmotors.com/

http://www.mobiusmotors.com/company/founder.html

Business Development Manager Trainee (Parking Industry)

Company:

 V-Park Management Solutions Limited

Location:

Lagos, Nigeria

Salary:

TBC plus attractive benefits package

Date posted:

11/08/2011 08:40 GMT

Job type:

Permanent

Company:

 V-Park Management Solutions Limited

Contact: The Recruiter

Mary Haughton

Ref:

Job/V-Park/AM - NGR/08/11

Job ID:

000018

V-Park is the Nigeria's leading provider of tailored complete parking solutions. We are a full service parking Management Company, though newly established with a difference. No matter what type of parking solution you are looking for, we can offer simple, flexible and cost-effective parking services, supported by highly trained personnel and unique technology. Parking management is a specialist challenge and V-Park understands the unique demands associated with it. We therefore provide our customers with suitable customised solutions. Please visit our website www.v-parkms.com for more details

The Role

Based in Lagos, you will be involved with business opportunities/development that covers Lagos and the remaining 35 states in Nigeria. You must be flexible and be prepared to travel

To provide the first point of contact with business prospects and contact businesses to gain sales leads

To market and promote the V-Park Management Solutions Limited and portfolio of products and services

To work as part of the Sales organisation within V-Park Management Solutions Limited

To cold call and prospect businesses to obtain sales leads within Nigeria accounts promoting our company portfolio of products and services.

To secure appointments, and wherever possible, opportunity details, Cleansing of in-house data, updating CRM, using customer and prospect contact activities tools and systems, and update relevant information held in these systems.

To engage with Sales Department and to gather raw data from various sources and configure databases of customer information in regional and vertical market formats

To plan/carry out/support marketing activities to budgets and timescales, and integrate personal sales efforts with other organised marketing activities, e.g., product launches, promotions, advertising, exhibitions and telemarketing.

To network at selected events to obtain customer details and sales leads for the sales team to follow up on

To attend training and to develop relevant knowledge, techniques and skills whenever required

To maintain and develop corporate image and reputation, and protect and develop the company's brands via suitable activities and intellectual property management

Competencies

Sound commercial negotiation and contract development skills/experience.

Proven business development experience in a commercial customer facing environment

Proven ability to influence key decision makers and communicate effectively at all levels.

Sound financial and analytical skills.

Ability to deliver challenging and demanding targets

Strong commercial acumen

To be computer literate particularly in the areas of Microsoft word, excel and outlook

Experience

Experience in business/commercial management

Experience of implementing effective cost controls and understanding of budgets

Experience in the preparation & delivery of business and managerial Reports

Personal Attributes

Smart and Professional

Inter-personal skills with the ability to build relationships at all levels

Problem solving skills

Competent oral and written communicator

Self-motivated, pro-active nature

Approachable and able to foster team spirit

Flexible in approach and able to absorb new ideas

Be able to prioritise and multi task

Ability to motivate staff to deliver an excellent level of service

Qualifications

Educated to Degree level or relevant knowledge and experience

A full, clean driving licence

Ideal Background

Ideally already living in Nigeria or ability to relocate easily

Knowledge of parking industry and processes preferred but not essential

Knowledge of business operations and strategic drivers

How to apply: Send your resume and cover letter to haughtonmary@ymail.com

Closing Date: 1^st September 2011

Interview Process: 1^st stage 2weeks after closing date and only shortlisted candidates will be notified about date for online psychometric assessments.

Credit: V-Park Administrator

11/08/11

Liberian President Request Alternative Car Parking

With controversies raging over the new parking regulations by the Monrovia City Cooperation and its partners, the Ministry of Public Works has been instructed by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to create an alternative parking lot to be used by vehicle owners who park for longer hours during the day.

Making the disclosure, Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs, Jerelimic Piah, indicated that the newly cleared extension of Center Street, by way of the College of West Africa, has been allotted for use as parking lot. According to him, car owners will be able to park there for a small and reasonable amount, which has not yet been determined by the government.

He, however, said the President is concerned about the situation, and that consideration will be given to the many concerns aimed at satisfying all parties involved. 

To read more on this article, become a registered member today.

Credit: PA Online

5th August 2011

No Parking for Fans Says International Football Friendly Organizers

The organizers of the international football friendly match in UK between two West African countries says:


"there is no parking available for fans at the ground and street parking is exclusively restricted for local residents by way of match day permits". They also added that Parking is not permitted in Watford General Hospital closer to the ground.

The two West African Giants the Black Stars and the Super Eagles clash again on 9th August 2011

FIFA/UEFA match agent Justin Addo, speaking at a press conference held on the 22nd July 2011 at the Ghana High Commission said and subsequently 29th July 2011 in Lagos:

“There is a huge Nigerian and Ghanaian community in the UK and other parts of Europe who are keen on this game and we will make things easy for them to be able to bring their friends and families to the game. Even though the game will be played in England, people in Africa are also interested in coming to watch the match while those who will stay home want to see the game”

Also in attendance at the High Commission were Ghana captain John Mensah and High Commissioner Kweku Danso Boafo

The match will be a chance for the Super Eagles to take vengeance on the Black Stars after a string of losses in recent meetings

Ghana, currently ranked 15th in the world are expected to put out a strong team. This eagerly awaited match will see English Premier League players go head to head

Nigeria currently 39th in the world has the likes of John Obi Mikel and Peter Odemwingie at their disposal

Ghana’s coach Goran Stevanovic’s announced the return of, Michael Essien in May and he was also included in the 24-man squad for the June 3 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Republic of Congo

This vigilant, yet friendly encounter is sure to be a great spectacle and will be a great opportunity to spend the day with family and friends

Location: Watford Football club – Vicarage Road, Watford, Hertfordshire WD1 8ER

Time: KO 7.45pm till 9:45pm










Credit: Undisclosed
August 2011

Bodaboda Cyclists Frustrate Street Parking Managers in Uganda

MULTIPLEX, the contractors for managing street parking in Kampala, is counting losses because bodaboda cyclists occupy the parking slots for vehicles.

Paul Gagaya, the Multiplex operations manager, said unregulated bodaboda business operators could compromise their contractual obligations.

"The cyclists just park in any empty slot, hence restricting access for cars that would otherwise have parked in the space," said Gagaya.

He said the firm was in talks with the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to solve the stalemate. Patrick Sanya, the commissioner for transport regulations in the works and transport ministry, said there was need to gazette bodaboda stages to bring order in the city.

Simon Muhumuza, the city authority spokesman, said efforts to gazette stages for the cyclists failed because politicians intervene all the time they try. He, however, said the authority's chief executive would meet the riders soon to find a way forward.

Atanansi Kafeero, the chairman for bodaboda riders in Kampala Central division, said it was upon KCCA to designate stages for them.

Credit: allafrican.com

5th August 2011