Tired of driving around in circles looking for a parking spot? A last resort for some residents is a sandy area in one of the capital’s busiest commercial and residential districts.
Dozens of sport utility vehicles, company vans and smaller saloon cars line both sides of an unpaved plot in front of the Lulu Centre and Southern Fried Chicken buildings on Sheikh Zayed Street, formerly Salam Street.
“We’re not getting enough parking spots here,” said Mohandas, 49, a design engineer who parked his car in the sand on Tuesday morning. “I work in one of the buildings nearby and I’m left with no choice but to park here or across the road.”
The situation worsens in the afternoon and late at night, as shoppers, office workers and residents jostle for space.
“You can see more than 50 cars early in the morning but by 2pm or 4pm, this sandy area will be filled with so many cars.”
Kamruddin, 45, a company driver who has lived above Southern Fried Chicken for two years, claims up to 200 cars are illegally parked in the sand by midnight on any given day.
“Parking is a big problem,” he said. “It’s been more than a year since people started parking in the sand.”
Most spots in the neighbourhood are reserved for residents with permits, he said.
Permit-holders can park between 9pm and 8am in standard spaces marked by turquoise-and-black-coloured kerbs. Those without a permit can be fined Dh500.
“I cannot apply for a resident permit since I’m driving a company car,” Kamruddin said.
Abdul Salam, 36, a driver working for a cargo company, said he was lucky to get a spot in the sand at 2am last week.
“It’s my first time to park here,” he said. “There are too many cars and they don’t receive a fine.”
Drivers simply ignore the Mawaqif sign that reads “Sandy Area No Parking”.
When asked whether or not he would issue a fine to those parked illegally, a Mawaqif inspector on patrol said: “No problem. My manager told me not to give them a fine.”
But a customer-service representative at Mawaqif’s call centre said drivers faced a Dh200 fine for parking in unpaved and sandy areas.
“The car will also be towed,” the staff member said. “Maybe another Mawaqif inspector will come and fine your car.”
In June 2011, the Department of Transport (DoT) said vehicles parked in unpaved and sandy areas in Abu Dhabi would face an immediate Dh200 fine and towing.
The restrictions aim to encourage motorists to use legal Mawaqif parking spaces, while protecting the unpaved areas.
Illegal parking areas will be under continuous surveillance by Mawaqif inspectors, the DoT said.
“If Mawaqif will convert this sandy area into a paid parking zone, people will use it,” Mohandas said. “This place is getting congested and Mawaqif should provide more areas for us to park.”
The parking agency plans to expand its coverage by adding more than 8,400 paid spaces by the end of the year, the DoT said.
The expansion will bring the number of Mawaqif-covered sectors in the capital to 50 and the total number of paid spaces to 98,600, reported Al Ittihad, the Arabic-language sister paper of The National, last month.
Parking fees and timings will remain unchanged, but the number of parking controllers and patrols will rise to keep up with the expansion, the report said.
