48-hour warning notice on hundreds of vehicles in Sharjah's used car market

Sharjah Municipality has warned hundreds of owners of used cars parked in the largest car market in the region to remove the vehicle within forty eight hours or face action.

 The deadline for the hundreds of used car dealers  in the congested Abu Shagara used car market comes to an end in a couple of days, as established traders are yet to comply with the requirement.

Sharjah Municipality officials have posted notices on all the used cars parked in the streets and is informing them about the negative impact of such vehicles on the aesthetic look of Sharjah.

“On the parked vehicles in the used car market, the Municipality has posted warning notices urging the owner of the vehicle to take away the parked vehicle within forty eight hours. The notice warns them that parking the vehicles in the specified areas negatively affect the aesthetics of the city.

 “The Municipality seeks your cooperation by rectifying this violation within forty eight hours from the time of this notice. Otherwise it will take appropriate action without notifying the owner or bearing any responsibility for it,” says the notices on hundreds of parked vehicles in the used car market.

Vehicles owned by residents of the area are exempted from the warning notices.

About six months ago, about 250 used car dealers of Abu Shagara approached the Sharjah Municipality, seeking more time to review a decision taken by a semi-government finance company to hike the annual parking rent and to relocate them allegedly at short notice. “Many traders are saying the rent in the new Sharjah market is very high, upto Dh 200,000 or more. Many traders are opting to take lease in the Ajman market, where rent is around Dh 100,000. About sixty of our used cars have been given warning notices,” said a trader from Al Bathool Used Car, Abu Shagara.

“It is a welcome development but the parking space freed from the used car dealers is now converted into private paid parking and they charge Dh 500 per month to use the facility. The parking fee of Dh6000 is not a small amount and for parking one hour, it is Dh10. We thought there will be more parking space after the removal of the illegal parkings and used car dealers. We are watching the situation because even the rent level is also going up,” said Sharly Benjamin, a resident of Abu Shagara for fifteen years.

“I have been coming back from work a bit earlier to find parking but for the regular employees, coming back to find parking is not easy. When I cannot find parking in the vicinity of my residential building, I find parking almost 1km away and come back walking all the way,”  he said. “When we go to adjacent areas in Sharjah, we hire a taxi and keep the vehicle in the parking because if you remove the car from parking, finding another parking is very difficult,” Shaarly added.

“On Thursday and Fridays, the roads will be congested and even in emergency situations, we cannot go out,” he said.

Residents of Abu Shagara, a small neighbourhood in Sharjah where about 600 used car dealers operate, have been facing severe parking shortage for nearly a decade, as the used car dealers park their vehicles for sale in the streets and free parking spaces, after their own showrooms get full with vehicles on display.

Sharjah Municipality has been trying to relocate the Abu Shagara used car dealers to a new used car complex somewhere near the Sharjah International Airport, but traders have been reluctant to do so as their regular customers are used to the location and finding the same flow of customers is uncertain in the new market. While there was no certain deadline for relocation, used car dealers have been unable to renew their tenancy contracts in the same premises.

Hundreds of used cars, especially those without number plates and with vehicles gathering dust, have been pasted with warning notices. The used car market in Abu Shagara and Abu Dang will be transferred to its new location in Al Reqaa Al Hamrrah area near Sharjah International Airport, which is located at the intersection of Emirates and Al Dhaid roads. The implementation will be in two phases and the transfer will be completed by the end of 2015.

 

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