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Multi-storey car parks to come up in Sharjah by 2018

Sharjah - The needs of special people are also being taken into consideration in the parking spaces.

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The multi-storey car parks in buildings in three areas - including Al Majza 1, Al Majaz 2 and Al Qasimiya - will come up by 2018 and ease traffic congestion.
These are part of the 13 multi-storey car parks which are currently being built across Sharjah.
Thabet Al Tarifi, director general of Sharjah Municipality, said that parking lots were being established to facilitate the smooth flow of vehicles in the surrounding areas while preventing snarl-ups in the streets.
He added that each of the three buildings consists of a ground floor and seven upper floors, and includes all required services such as security and safety systems in accordance with international standards. The needs of special people are also being taken into consideration in the parking spaces, he pointed out.
He said the municipality has almost completed 800 car parking lots in the multi-storey building in Al Majaz, 1,750 in Al Majaz 2 and 1,230 in Al Qasimiya. Around 70 per cent of the work is over.
A top official from Sharjah public works department said that the municipality has built the 800 car parking lots in Al Majaz 1 at a cost of Dh21 million.
He noted that residents will soon have easy access to purchase parking tickets from new parking machines, which will be set up at commercial shops. Drivers will also be able to use the machine to recharge and renew their parking stickers or cards.

What residents say

Residents said that they have been eagerly waiting for the parking lots in the multi-storey building since these were announced several years ago. They said they can't afford to pay for the high fees for private parking spaces, which are expanding in the city.
Ahmed Al Baloushi, a resident of Al Majaz area, said he hoped that the multi-storey parking is better than the paid parking on the public roads. The parked cars will have more space and there won't be any room for damage. "The hunt for parking space is also time-consuming and it often renders people late for appointments or meetings."
Nitin, an Indian who has been living in Al Qasimiya for ten years, says that he lives in Emirates Islamic building on Immigration Road where it's very difficult to find paid parking space. To get a space in paid parking, he said he has to reach home by 6:00pm to be able to park his car. If he is late, he has to use the private parking which costs Dh5 to 7 per hour, compare to municipality parking which is cheap and free after 12:00am.  "I wonder if the new multi-storey parking will be free from 12:00am to 6:00am."
Ahmed Rafeeq, a Pakistani who has been living near Al Mahatta Museum for quite some time, said that earlier, there used to be a lot of space for parking and it was free. But for the past three years, all these have been turned into paid parking and the free spaces have been given to private parking players who charge more than the municipality.
He says that he hoped the multi-storey buildings follow a system like paid public parking zones on the road and charge the same price, because municipality parking services are cheaper than private parking. There are no free parking spaces left anywhere in Sharjah, he rued.