Sharjah
I live in a residential building in the Al Nahda area, in Sharjah, opposite a popular shopping centre. A few days ago, some people closed the parking area adjacent to my building and put up a fence around it. On approaching them, they told me that they owned the parking space, and I now had to pay them if I wanted to park my vehicle in the lot. Additionally, they said they would be taking over some other parking lots in the area, too and residents will not be allowed to park unless they pay for a spot.
My building doesn’t have any floors designated to parking spaces for the residents and this lot was the only place where we could park our cars. We were already facing problems in finding parking spots and this is just going to make it harder.
With the rents constantly increasing, we are now being asked to pay for parking, too. This is a very difficult situation for us and some residents of the building are planning to move to escape this issue. Decisions like these will affect thousands of families.
After this episode, I noticed that some construction work began on the lot without any safety measures. Trucks were seen dumping sand in the area and it became difficult for residents to even walk out of the building. Even a slight wind gets the sand to blow around and people are suffering from breathing issues. Now, the interlocking work is complete and the parking lot is operational.
I raised the complaint with the Sharjah Municipality, but to no avail. I hope the authorites will take action against such private companies who are making it difficult for us to live in this area.
The reader is based in Sharjah.
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