‘Al Mamzar, Airport Tunnel toll gates functioning well’

The authority said it had not received any complaints regarding the work of the two new Salik gates were inaugurated on April 15 this year. The remarks were in reply to a number of complaints received by Khaleej Times.

“Salik is working properly, and if there are cases, they are isolated, and the complainant should report to the authority,” an RTA official said.

Sharjah resident Mathews Skariah was perturbed to find that he had been charged twice, at Al Mamzar South and Al Mamzar North Toll Gates, while travelling in the same direction.

Although, he did not receive a response from the RTA after requesting them to reimburse his account, it seemed the error had been rectified as he was not charged twice on Tuesday morning, he said.

Skariah lives in Al Nahda, Sharjah, and it takes him 30 to 45 minutes to drive to his office near Dnata Clock Tower every day.

He said he did not believe the toll gates would clear congestion on the roads.

“I don’t think there will be much difference. Because, the alternate routes are lengthy and already congested. I was doing a calculation the other day and it turned out that using the alternate route will save only Dh100 per month.”

He said he would use the toll road in the morning, and alternate routes in the evening. He had not heard of anyone else experiencing this problem, but did not expect many people would have checked their Salik accounts, he said.

Meanwhile, reports of traffic congestion continue to filter through. Ashraf T.K, who works in Dubai, said he did not experience any improvement in the traffic.

“I felt today that the traffic has become even worse than before the Salik on the Sharjah-Dubai highway ... RTA implemented Salik toll gate to reduce the traffic. But traffic has not been reduced at all from Sharjah-Dubai highway.”

RTA statistics show that as many as 260,000 motor vehicles use Al Ittihad Road for coming and going (both directions) every day. And due to the toll gates, 10 to 15 per cent of the vehicles using this road, will change their course to other routes to avoid paying Salik.

This shows that a total of 220,000 motor vehicles will use the Salik gate on Al Ittihad Road, generating as much as Dh880,000 every day.

Earlier, the authority had stated that the revenue generated by the Salik Gate on Al Garhoud Bridge is estimated at Dh1 million per day, and that of Al Barsha accounted for approximately Dh800,000.

An official source at the authority, however, said the volume of traffic over Al Garhoud Bridge dropped after the opening of the toll gate on Al Ittihad Road.

The total amount of revenue generated from the Salik gates in a period of six years came to the tune of $800 million, excluding the Al Mamzar and Airport Tunnel Salik gates, the source said.

Some Khaleej Times readers who had called in to complain about the toll gates and who live on either sides of the Al Ittihad Road and are working in Dubai said they are bound to relocate in the vicinities of Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road and Dubai, arguing that the difference in rent they save have now to be paid for Salik and on fuel for their vehicles. The readers also said the traffic jam and congestion on Al Ittihad Road remained unchanged in the morning but thinned down towards evening.

Residents have called on the authority to implement the study which it had announced previously which says Salik will be waived off for motor vehicles from midnight until 6am the next morning.

Others hail the system which will make the traffic flow smoother on the main roads of Dubai, especially at the entrance of the emirate from the Sharjah side. They said that paying Dh4 towards Salik is not a big deal since they reach their destination faster.

news@khaleejtimes.com