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28 March 2024

Mawaqif penalties linked to traffic police

Published
By Staff

A government body supervising a major parking project in Abu Dhabi has linked its penalty tickets to the traffic police to push offenders to pay the fine quickly. It coupled that move with a 25 per cent discount for payment within 15 days.

Mawaqif, an affiliate of the Department of Transport (DoT), said it had just reached agreement with the Abu Dhabi traffic police to link its tickets to their department as the company is pushing ahead with the paid parking scheme that will eventually cover all parts of the emirate.

“The tickets issued by Mawaqif against cars parking in the wrong place are now linked to the traffic police,” a Mawaqif official told 'Emirates 24/7'. “This means offenders who do not pay the fine will not be able to complete any transaction at the traffic police, including registration of their cars.”

To tempt violators to pay the fine quickly, Mawaqif is also offering a 25 per cent discount on all its penalties if they are paid within 15 days.

“If you pay your fine within 15 days from the date of the issue, it will be subject to a 25 per cent discount,” Mawaqif says in a statement printed on its fines.

Mawaqif’s penalties include Dh300 fine for leaving the car in its paid parking spaces without paying fees and Dh500 for parking the vehicle in a wrong place.

Mawaqif launched its project in 2010 in a bid to tackle the long-standing parking problem that had caused a headache to drivers and kept the traffic police on the guard. While the project has somewhat ended the parking mess in the capital, it has angered thousands of residents who do not find parking spaces for their cars at night although they are registered with the company’s annual scheme.

“The problem with Mawaqif is that they designate 200 or 300 parking spaces in an area which has more than 1,000 cars,” said Terry Wishart , a British resident of Abu Dhabi. “Many people are suffering from this problem and Mawaqif just does not want to do anything about it…it’s just they don’t care.”

Mawaqif has so far constructed nearly 60,000 parking spaces in the capital and is targeting more than 150,000 although there are over 450,000 cars in the city.