Cash or credit at Tenaga parking outlets
Tenaga Car Parks (Pvt) Ltd in partnership with a Swedish Company, CALE Access has introduced solar powered parking meters to Colombo as a pilot project and the first of these machines was installed at Baron Jayathilaka Mawatha in Fort, last week.
Dialog Exiata also entered into a partnership with Tenaga as the exclusive technological partner for the parking meters.
From left - Fariq Cader, Senior General Manager (Mobile Money and Digital Services Operations), Dialog Axiata; . Duminda Jayathilake, Managing Director of Tenaga Car Parks; Colombo Mayor A.J.M. Muzammil, and Excellency Azmi Zainuddin, Malaysian High Commissioner.
These meters have six payments options – coins, debit cards, credit cards, Touch Cards, eZcash and Add to Bill solutions through Dialog. The Touch Cards were introduced by Dialog to facilitate contactless payments and transport ticketing, while eZ Cash allows Dialog and Etisalat customers to carry out payments and transactions using their mobile phones.
At the media briefing held subsequent to the launch, Duminda Jayathilake, Managing Director, Tenaga Car Parks said that this type of parking meters are the first to be installed not only in Sri Lanka but in the whole of South Asia.
He said that through these machines many value added services could be implemented in the long run.
He said that these meters are combined with the latest technology to save energy and ensure efficiency as these machines are powered by solar panels where the machine utilises daylight to charge the batteries. He said that these machines are equipped with a CALE-patented electronic lock system with intrusion sensors and tough materials, the machines are secured against vandalism. The authorities hope to install CCTV cameras to monitor the area where the machines work.
He said that they hope to have further discussions with Colombo Municipal Council to extend these machines to other areas of Colombo and also hope to have discussions with other municipalities spread over the country to have these machines installed in those areas too.
On the sidelines of the launch, Alain Osterlind, Country Head of CALE Malaysia told the Business Times that these machines would bring in revenue for the city council. He said that their company based in Sweden operates in many countries through the company’s subsidiaries and during the last 15 years they have installed around 120,000 such machines in all parts of the world.