Paid parking spaces increase by 4,644 at Tourist Club

ABU DHABI // Drivers in the Tourist Club Area will find an additional 4,644 paid parking spaces beginning February 29.

The Mawaqif parking management system will be in effect in an area between Zayed the Second, Al Falah, Al Salam and Najda streets from 8am until 10pm, Saturday to Thursday.

Residents in newly assigned areas will be given up to two parking permits per household. The permits are valid only for the sector on the permit.

Residents will require a passport and visa copy, proof of residency, a water and electricity bill and proof of vehicle ownership.

Residence permits are Dh800 for the first vehicle and Dh1200 for the second.

Standard parking marked by turquoise and black kerbstones will cost Dh2 per hour or Dh15 per day.

Drivers will be charged Dh3 per hour for premium parking, marked by turquoise and white kerbstones, for a four-hour limit.

Parking will be free on public holidays.

Abu Faisal, 27, spends one to two hours a day looking for parking around his apartment in the Tourist Club Area and is going to move neighbourhoods completely because of the parking situation.

He has little faith that the new parking system will improve the situation.

“Parking? Catastrophe. Disaster. Whatever you want to call it, it will not improve. It is hopeless,” said the father of two from Iraq.

“I spend 10 to 45 minutes parking every day,” said Rehab Faraj, 38, of Egypt who lives in the newly zoned area. “So I’m waiting to see if it will be better or worse.”

Abdul Prabhat, manager of Kawloon Chinese Restaurant, said if a new parking system were introduced in his area the restaurant could attract as many as 600 more customers a month.

“Our guests are not getting parking; most guests are disappointed in the parking and they go around and around,” Mr Prabhat said. “If this parking area is improved it will be very good for business.”

azacharias@thenational.ae