Abu Dhabi car population rises 16% each year

The Department of Transport (DoT) in Abu Dhabi has announced the start of the final phase of tender evaluation for the automated car parking facilities.

Specialised companies were invited to bid for the design, construction, financing, operation, and maintenance of the two automated car parking facilities in the area of Al Salam Street. This is part of the DoT's strategy to provide an effective system for parking management in Abu Dhabi.

The DoT will be managing the development of automated car parking through a public private partnership (PPP) model. In this phase, five companies were qualified after initial evaluations to submit their designs and technical/financial offers after fulfilling the conditions. The tender will be awarded and the winner of will be announced before end of the current year.

DoT aims to increase the capacity and number of parking spaces in Abu Dhabi, while providing multiple services within the facilities with the highest standards in safety, speed in car delivery and retrieval and efficiency in energy consumption. In addition, the designs are required to comply with sustainability principles in line with the Istidamah programme of the Urban Planning Council (UPC) in Abu Dhabi.

Recent studies have shown that the number of registered vehicles in Abu Dhabi increases by 16 per cent annually, while the number of new driving licences rises by 10 per cent each year on average, highlighting the importance of developing automated solutions such as the automated car parking facilities, the first of its kind in Abu Dhabi.

Najib Al Zarooni, General Manager of Parking at the Department of Transport, said: "Our partnership with the private sector will provide an opportunity to innovate. Our role is not only to provide parking in Abu Dhabi, but also to develop sustainable services and sophisticated measures to make the use of public parking very easy. Automated parking is one of the most modern technologies that contributes to solving traffic problems and saves a lot of space normally allocated to conventional parking.With automated car parking, drivers can just stop their car at the entrance and leave within a few seconds. More so, automated parking is very safe."

The Department of Transport introduced Mawaqif in October 2009 as part of its Surface Transport Master Plan. The parking management program provides a sustainable solution aimed at ensuring more accessible and less congested city. This initiative supports Plan Abu Dhabi 2030 and the Department of Transport's plans to place Abu Dhabi as one of the world's leading places with regards to mobility, connectivity and transport.

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