DUBAI — Residents living in the Karama area in Dubai are at their wits’ end finding suitable parking spaces for their vehicles, especially at night.
The situation has turned so bad that residents are complaining that they have to navigate through the lanes and bylanes for over an hour sometimes to find suitable parking spaces, most of which are converted into paid-parking lots.
Even if one is ready to pay, there is an acute shortage of parking spaces in Karama, forcing many residents to ‘double-park’ their vehicles or park them in wrong areas like pedestrian pavements under the constant threat of inviting fines.
Nitin Desai, who works in a private firm said, “Every single day I have to go around the whole area for not less than an hour to find a parking space. Not a single space is empty.
“Earlier, I used to park at a free parking area near the Lamcy Plaza though many vehicles are parked haphazardly there. That spot was changed into a paid parking area some months back. Now, there are only paid parking areas where one has to shed Dh300-350 every month. Such an amount is too much for a middle class family with a limited income. I am seriously contemplating to sell my car to avoid the everyday tension.”
A frustrated Hari S. Khanna, who works in the Dubai Internet City, said: “The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) should do something immediately. Most of us are parking on pedestrian pavements. We know that it is causing a lot of problems. But there are no alternative.
“Last month, I paid Dh500 in fines for wrong parking. I come from work late in the night when all parking areas are full. After moving around for an hour, I have no choice but to park at any space I find. This has become a bigger problem for us than the schooling of our children.”
Some residents said there are spaces the RTA could convert into parking lots. “There is a huge barren land between the two Pioneer building blocks. It can easily accommodate 500-600 cars. The RTA can change it into a parking area which will solve the problem to some extent,” said a vehicle owner.
Hussain Al Banna, Acting Director of the Road Fees and Parking Department in the RTA, told Khaleej Times that the department is aware of the problem.
“We are taking a few steps. We plan to restrict the movement of private vehicles in some areas of Karama. Only public transport vehicles would be allowed to ply in such areas. We are also planning to implement one-way traffic system in some areas in addition to encouraging the people to use public transport.
“We would be coming up with new parking lots. Also, we are studying the best practices that have been implemented worldwide and trying to implement them here too,” he said. Al Banna added that the Karama area would have no new ‘paid parking’ lots for now.