4,000 metered parking bays introduced in Sharjah

SHARJAH // More parking in Sharjah city will come at a cost as an additional 4,000 metered spaces are introduced next year.

Some existing free spaces will have meters added while Sharjah Municipality is also building some new parking bays, taking the total available in the emirate to 32,000.

The spaces will be on internal roads in Al Majaz 2, Al Majaz 3, Al Soor, Al Majrafa, Al Majarah, Umm Al Tarfanah and Al Jubeil, said Atef Al Zarouni, director of public parking at the municipality.

“The municipality will convert the areas to paid parking as soon as Sharjah Roads and Transport Authority finishes maintenance on these areas,” he said.

Last year, 1,570 free parking spaces were converted to paid parking.

According to the director, inspectors have issued 206,760 parking fines during the first eight months of this year.

“Out of the total number of fines, there were 82,325 fines issued for not paying for parking, another 67,058 for expired parking tickets. Inspectors issued 56,122 fines for wrong parking,” said Mr Al Zarouni.

He added that the department received 1,364 complaints from the public in eight months and that inspectors can face aggression from drivers.

“Some residents verbally abuse the inspectors and, in some cases, it turned physical. They were immediately referred to police,” Mr Al Zarouni said.

“On the other hand, if an inspector was found to mistreat any client, he will be dealt with according to our internal systems.”

According to the public parking department, nearly 32 per cent of customers pay their fines through sending an SMS to 5566.