Naiparq, Smart Parking Solutions App, Launches in Kenya

No photo availableBySteve Mbego
2 min read
Naiparq, an app that seeks to solve the traffic problem in Nairobi City has been launched in Kenya.
L-R Naiparq Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Richard Otolo and
L-R Naiparq Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Richard Otolo and Co-founder and Head of Sales and Marketing Joan Yieke showcasing their product during the Kenya Innovation Week held at the Kenya School of Government, Kabete [Photo, Steve Mbego]

Naiparq, an app that seeks to solve the traffic problem in Nairobi City has been launched in Kenya.

The startup, which was among the several innovators showcasing their products during the Kenya Innovation Week (KIW) organised by the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA) helps motorists to find parking anywhere. It also enables anyone to get paid when they share their parking space.

Naiparq’s chief technology officer, Richard Otolo told CIO Africa, “We’re excited at the opportunity to not only provide some relief to the pain motorists have to deal with when looking for parking in Nairobi’s but to also help ordinary citizens and businesses make extra money by listing their unused parking spaces on our app”

Naiparq allows anyone to easily list their parking space on the platform which makes it visible to motorists who are looking for a parking space in that area. Motorists can use the app to locate, reserve and pay for a parking spot.

The App also allows motorists to know about a parking space’s location, availability, price, type of vehicle it can accommodate and any additional features they can benefit from using the space such as car wash services. Motorists can then use the Naiparq app to go ahead and book the parking space in advance and only pay for the amount of time they intend to use it for.

The app has partnered with private parking spaces to make the idea work. Naiparq works with parking attendants that approve the requests for motorists to park in the space. The charges are from $0.27 for the first 30 minutes.

A parking survey by IBM in 2011 found that motorists in Nairobi on average take 31.7 minutes against a global average of 19.8 minutes to find a vacant parking slot. A 2019 report by the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee found that Nairobi, a city with 1.3 + million vehicles had only 6,125 parking spaces, most of which are operated by the Nairobi city council.

So dire is the parking problem in Nairobi, that City Hall has proposed a raft of changes contained in Nairobi City County Draft Parking Policy. The policy seeks to introduce time-based parking fees to streamline parking services in the city.

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