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Dubai resident pays Dh1,000 a month in parking fines

Dubai - Decreasing width of footpaths could be a solution to parking issues in International City.

Insufficient parking space in International City has led to one resident regularly accumulating monthly fines of around Dh1,000.

Indian engineer Madasamy Jayaram told Khaleej Times he often has to resort to parking at the corner of his building, which results in a Dh200 parking fine each time.

"This is the plight of most tenants here. I am sometimes forced to park at the corner of the building, as other tenants do, without affecting any traffic. But the police will fine for this."

Living in S07 of the Spain Cluster for three years, Jayaram said the problem is insufficient parking spaces for the capacity of the area.

In a statement to Khaleej Times, Nakheel said it is working on alleviating the issue.

"There are currently over 23,000 parking bays at the community, including 2,500 that have been added in the last three years, with several hundred more on the way."

According to Nakheel's website, International City hosts around 22,000 residences.

But with many properties often owning more than two vehicles per household, residents said the current count of parking bays is simply not enough.

"When I rented the flat here, I was informed the car parking facilities were free. I live in a four-storey building, which has about 100 apartments in it," Jayaram said.

However, the parking facilities towards the backside of his building only houses about 40 parking spots.

"Some apartment tenants have two cars, which makes parking impossible most days."

Starting work at 6 am and reaching home at 7 pm or 8 pm most days, he said the parking is "always full".

"I sometimes wait one hour to find a free space near my building. The weekends are even worse."

He said he receives about "five fines a month", because of the lack of parking Nakheel has provided.

Paying rent of Dh3,600 a month, Jayaram said he is willing to pay for a reserved parking space, but has been unsuccessful in his request.

He said there is a real need to create additional parking spaces.

And with wide footpaths and many unused communal areas, decreasing the width of the footpaths could be a solution.

"Four to five people can walk side by side on the walkways. If we reduce the width, we could utilise the space by adding more parking spaces."

Nakheel said it is continuing to make progress on addressing the parking challenges at International City by "creating additional spaces, exploring parking management options and educating the community on safe, legal parking".

"In addition, we are freeing-up hundreds of parking spaces by working with Dubai Police and the Dubai Municipality to remove abandoned vehicles. Some 200 were taken away in the last two months, with an estimated 400 more to be removed by the end of the year. Safety and security are paramount at our communities. Residents are urged to park safely and legally at all times."

kelly@khaleejtimes.com