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Pre-paid parking begins in capital next month

ABU DHABI - The Parking Management Project (PMP) in the capital will go operational next month, a senior PMP official has disclosed, noting that posters in both Arabic and English languages have been put up in all under-trial parking lots (including Sector 8) to alert motorists about the new pre-paid parking system.

Ahmed Ibrahim, PMP consulting manager, told Khaleej Times a fee of Dh3 per hour will be levied for surface parkings from Saturday to Thursday starting from 8:00am to 9:00pm. Fees for the multi-storeyed parkings will be Dh2 per hour or Dh15 a day. The service will be free of charge on Friday,'' he explained.

During the initial trial which ends on December 31, he added, each apartment will have its own parking space at a cost of Dh500 provided that parking time does not exceed 48 hours consecutively. The PMP is designed to cover the area from the Defence Road up to the Corniche Road by 2010. ''An evaluation of the current experiment will take place within four to six months after its implementation,'' he added.

He explained that the parkings are controlled by two German systems and a French one, and of the two the most user-friendly and high heat resistant system will subsequently be adopted. The Abu Dhabi Municipality has offered people special parking subscription for Dh350 during the summer season at designated car parkings behind Liwa Centre and for Dh200 at the Medinat Zayed Shopping Centre parking lots.

It warned motorists that any vehicles left abandoned in Sector East 8 during the trial period will be towed. Regarding possible fines, the official said that violations include expiry of parking duration time, non-commitment to posting the ticket on the vehicle windsheild, parking the vehicle in prohibited areas inside the parking lots, reservation of two car spaces or parking in places allocated for loading commodities.

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