Motorists in Harare have been spared the inconvenience of looking for physical US dollars when parking in the central business district as they can now easily pay their parking fees using their EcoCash USD wallet.
This follows the telco striking an agreement with supermarket retail chain, Spar to avail its US dollar Cash-in and Cash-out services to over 400 outlets across the country.
The latest development follows the recent successful integration of the EcoCash USD wallet with City Parking’s payment system.
Although motorists can still pay their parking fees in local currency using their EcoCash ZWL wallet, the introduction of the USD payment options will come as a relief to many motorists with access to US dollars but who would struggle find smaller USD denominations to make their parking payment, or to get change for the same.
“The option to use the EcoCash USD Wallet changes all that, as it takes away the hassle of having to look for small denominations, adds safety to the process of making the payment as well as guaranteed security over and above the convenience it brings,” EcoCash said.
The company added that the partnership with City Parking on the EcoCash USD wallet payments would further widen the payment options available for EcoCash customers and the public at large.
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“We realised that parking is one of the services that still relies heavily on cash, and we saw an opportunity for us to offer our customers the convenience and ease of paying their parking fees in a simple, quick and secure way,” EcoCash said.
The service will be accessible by dialling *153#, or by simply selecting the USD wallet option on the EcoCash App, and following the easy payment instructions.
City Parking is a private company contracted by the local authority to handle parking in the city and to provide parking technologies.
The company, which holds the largest share of parking bays in Harare’s CBD – including the Julius Nyerere, Samora Machel and Parklane Parkades – manages on-street and off-street parking services.
Its vision is to provide convenient, sustainable, competitive and efficiently run world class parking services.
Market watchers say the EcoCash mobile money payments will help urban parking service providers by reducing point of failures associated with cash machines, as well as lowering the risk associated with collecting and transporting physical cash from parking stewards and parking points.
EcoCash has so far partnered with several merchants and service providers for the convenience of its customers across the country.
EcoCash chief operating officer, Munyaradzi Nhamo confirmed the partnership with Spar, wbich he said would offer customer convenience to millions of EcoCash users.
“We are pleased to be partnering with Spar Zimbabwe, one of the country’s largest supermarket groups, to allow our customers the convenience to cash-in and cash-out while shopping in Spar supermarkets,” he said.
“With a large retail network across the country, Spar Zimbabwe is an incredible partner for EcoCash, and we are excited about the opportunities this collaboration offers for our mutual customers.”
These include leading supermarket chains OK Zimbabwe, TM Pick n Pay and Spar shops nationwide.
The growing partner list also includes service stations, hardware shops and pharmacies among many other merchants coming onboard to offer their clients greater payment convenience.