Dubai: Residents of Al Khail Gate are requesting authorities to find a solution to their growing parking woes, as many say they are getting fines almost every night for parking on pavements and roads due to lack of space.
The residents say they are forced to do this out of desperation and not out of choice.
“We are forced to park on the road or on the pavement because the spaces get filled up by 8pm. If you are coming back from work late or from shopping, it is hard to find a spot. They can’t expect us to sleep in the car. Obviously, left without any choice, we leaving the car on the side of the road hoping that there won’t be any trouble,” said Gurujit Kaur, a resident of the community for more than nine years.
She added that the situation got worse after an empty plot, which was used by tenants to park their vehicles at night, was taken up to build a supermarket. “I agree that the supermarket was a necessity. What they could have done was to build a couple of floors for parking, which would have solved the problem. Instead, the situation has become worse now,” said Kaur.
According to residents, allotting designated spaces for tenants according to the size of their apartments could solve the problem.
“Four years back, the management promised us that parking spaces would be allotted according to the apartment size, one slot for a one- bedroom, two spaces for a two-bedroom and three for a three-bedroom flat. But, nothing has happened so far. Before the management used to give us notice for wrong parking but that has also stopped. Now we get fines in the middle of the night. When we speak with the management they refer us to the police and the police send us back to the management,” said Prathibha, another resident.
Another resident said the commercial vehicles are making matters worse. “Some time back, the management built a small parking lot, which in itself was not enough, but to make matters worse, commercial vehicles are taking up all the spaces on the new parking lot. Often I feel that a lot of outsiders are parking their vehicles in the community spaces. I urge the management to build a system that will only allow tenants to park overnight,” said a resident, who received four fines and 12 black points over the last four weeks.
He added: “When I took up the matter with the management, the staff said they are helpless.”
Mohammad Ridhwan, another long-time resident said that several buildings have been rented out to commercial establishments as staff accommodation, which is also adding to their woes.
“A few buildings have been given to bachelors, so there are a lot more cars, trucks and buses. If you are coming late from work or if you go out with your family, when you come back there is no parking space. This has made life difficult. Earlier we only had the parking issue, then police started fining us and now we have had cases where the cars are being towed away,” said Ridhwan.
Comment from Dubai Properties
Dubai Properties, which manages Al Khail Gate, has said in a statement that the issue is being sorted out.
“We are aware of the parking issues being experienced by residents in the Al Khail Gate community and are continuously working towards a resolution,” the management said in a statement.
According to the management, extra parking spaces have been made available on an ongoing basis through converting empty areas of the development, and parking notices have been arranged to inform users of the community that spaces are reserved for tenants only.
“We would like to assure all our residents that we are committed to providing a solution to this issue.”
