Sharjah to expand paid parking zones

Three areas in Sharjah that currently offer free parking will soon be converted to paid parking zones, said Ahmed Khamis Al Bardan, Head of Public Parking at the Sharjah Municipality.

The three areas are Al Nad, al Mahtah and Al Majaz. Al Bardan said converting these areas into paid parking zones will help organise the random parking of vehicles and as well provide new parking spaces.

He pointed out that these areas were chosen because of the huge congestion in public parking spaces in these areas. There are about 150 inspectors working to serve public parking in addition to 910 payment machines.

He asserted that these machines are already updated, and there is no longer a problem with new currency coins.

Al Bardan confirmed that once these multi-storey parking spaces come into service, they will help to get rid of 50 per cent of the problems associated with the large number of vehicles in the areas of Abu Shaghara, Al Qasimyah, the two most crowded places around these zones.

He added that six areas already fall under the prepaid public parking programme, which are the Corniche, Al-Chouyheen, Al-Ghuwair, Al Majaz, Al Wahda and Al Istiklal.

There will be more areas that will be included under the paid parking zones eventually, he said, based on further studies of congested areas in Sharjah.

He added that in case the Municipality finds more areas suffering from congestion, they will directly include them in this service .

In addition, Al Bardan revealed that the option of paying for parking via a text message will be introduced to Sharjah by early 2014,

He told Alroeya newspaper that this step is aimed at the convenience of the public, as well as to provide distinctive services to keep pace with developments in the Emirate.

Emirate 24|7 had reported in September, the Sharjah system will be on the same lines as that implemented in Dubai by the Roads and Transport Authority. Read: Parking in Sharjah: Mobile payment soon

Al Bardan said the Municipality was working on presence of three big spaces under the planning to be allocated for public parking, located in Abu Shaghara and Al Majaz areas.

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