Sharjah reserves 1,024 parking spots for shops

The Sharjah Municipality has provided as many as 1,024 reserved parking lots for commercial outlets, shops, restaurants, and cafeterias to prevent haphazard parking of cars while the establishments serve their customers in these vehicles.

Khalid bin Falah Al Suwaidi, assistant director-general of the customer service department, said the move aims to support commercial and industrial establishments by providing parking for them to be used by their customers. "It helps the owners of commercial establishments and food outlets to continue their business in a convenient and seamless way."

Al-Suwaidi explained that the inspection teams of the public parking department are organising campaigns to monitor the establishments that "reserve" parking in front of them in an irregular manner, such as closing the parking lot with plastic cones.

"The municipality inspectors will warn them the first time and if the violation is repeated, they would be fined. Therefore, all parties who want to reserve a parking space must visit the public parking department to obtain the necessary permits," he pointed out.

He added that to avail of the service, the establishment should submit a reservation request in the customer service department located in the Industrial Area No. 1 or in the main building of the municipality.

The request must be attached with documents related to the facility, such as a commercial licence and lease contract. The applicant would receive a response within one working day, and in urgent cases, it is completed within an hour.

After this, the owner of the facility would receive a signboard to be installed in front of the shop, showing the name of the establishment and the approved reservation hours. The municipality would mark the parking space in yellow to indicate that it is reserved, Al Suwaidi pointed out.

The official clarified that the reservation of these parking lots is not around-the-clock, rather they become public parking spaces from 10pm until 8am. Therefore, residents have the right to use them during those hours.

The reserved parking for banks also become public after the end of the working hours.

However, this doesn't apply to health sector establishments such as hospitals, pharmacies, tourism sector facilities and hotels. There are signs installed in front of these parking spaces mentioning all the information, such as the name of the store, the parking fine for non-customers, and the duration of the reservation.

• Sharjah