SCAA’s pay-parking not for profit-making |21 November 2020
SCAA officials during the press conference yesterday (Photo: Anel Robert)
The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority does not plan to make a profit from its pay-parking system but rather to reinvest the money in improving the parking and traffic flow at the Seychelles International Airport and cover the operational and maintenance costs.
Florence Marengo, Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority’s (SCAA) general manager for commercial, made note of this yesterday during a press conference to provide further explanation on the airport’s new pay-parking system.
Currently in a two-week testing phase, the pay-parking system will kick into gear on December 1, when everyone who makes use of the parking will have to pay a fee.
Prior to the introduction of pay-parking at the airport, the Seychelles International Airport was one of the only international airports in the world that were offering free parking spots for airport users.
The pay-parking system is aimed at strengthening the airport’s safety and security, as per the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards.
According to Mrs Marengo, it also forms part of a greater plan to reconfigure the already limited parking spaces available and improve the traffic ebb and flow at the airport.
She stressed that there are no restrictions to the airport by members of the public who will still be able to enjoy services on offer there such as restaurants and cafes, ATM and banking services and the soon to be operational pharmacy.
“Parking is one of the key components in our development project; we have already extended the north parking side and this will continue. We are looking at the reconfiguration of traffic management within the airport. It is already a challenge to efficiently manage the traffic flow and these projects hope to find a solution to this problem and provide better access to the airport facilities,” said Keith Arnephy, airport infrastructure and contract manager.
The SCAA has budgeted a total of R1.2 million for this project, of which R700,000 has been used so far.
“SCAA will also be revisiting the fees sets for our stakeholders, such as car hire operators and this will be done in consultation with them as we go along,” Mrs Marengo said.
“Our operators and stakeholders have been made aware of our decision to introduce pay-parking for quite a while, and in fact they welcomed this initiative because they were the ones that were affected by the abuses that went on before,” she added.
Dyan Vidot, aviation security implementation manager, explained that these abuses ranged from persons who used the parking as depot for their cars to those who parked in the lot to drink and play loud music to even some who washed their cars.
“We are governed by ICAO and this organisation has a well-stipulated regulation in regards to security on the airport land site, the parking lot[…] the tests we have undertaken has shown a reduction in the number of cars that were simply kept parked at the airport.”
Mr Vidot added that SCAA has not seen the need to hire additional security personnel to operate the pay-parking system, particularly since it has set up a 24/7 digital surveillance.
The public will be able to use the parking facilities free of charge for the first 15 minutes and from there on a rate of R20 shall be applicable up to an hour of parking.
Clients requiring the long-term service can contact the SCAA’s pay parking office at the airport or register directly online, at least 24 hours before they make use of the service.
Parking charges for the public will be applicable as follows:
SHORT TERM
First 15 minutes ‒ Free
Up to 1-hour ‒ R20
Maximum daily charge (24hr) ‒ R480
LONG TERM
1-3 days ‒ R1,000
4-6 days ‒ R2,100
7 days ‒ R2,800 and R480 for the subsequent days.
Penalty fee for lost tickets or cards ‒ R600
Airport and SCAA staff currently using the parking during working hours will still have access, at a reduced monthly fee of R250 per employee.
There are five colour-coded parking cards for those who commonly access the parking at the airport: blue cards for SCAA staff, red for airport staff, green for airport operators, orange for long-term parking and navy blue for special access.
Jusha Marguerite, business development manager, noted that SCAA understands the concerns of people who have expressed that the rates are high but nonetheless added that “we have to reiterate the principal objective of this pay-parking project which is safety and security to allow SCAA to have better control of its parking”.
The rates were decided on by taking into consideration the accessibility and use of parking spaces, and using local pay-parking rates as a benchmark.
Elsie Pointe
