Sharjah: Residents of Abu Shagara, a residential district in Sharjah, are sceptical of reports that used car dealers responsible for parking woes in the area will be relocated to a purpose-built used cars complex not far from Sharjah International Airport.
The relocation will free up much needed parking space in the neighbourhood, but residents complained that despite similar reports in the past, the dealers have stayed put.
There are roughly 600 dealers in the small neighbourhood, touting thousands of cars for sale, many of which occupy street parking spaces. The rest are parked inside showrooms.
The used cars have taken up parking spaces in the crowded area for decades, forcing residents to compete fiercely for limited vacant spaces or park wrongly in undesignated areas.
Motorists end up getting fined because there simply isn’t enough designated parking space left for them.
Recently, reports began circulating in the area that officials have asked the dealers to relocate to the new complex, which is finally complete after years in the making.
The planned relocation is being coordinated by Sharjah Municipality, which did not comment on the deadline for the relocation of the used cars market despite repeated attempts.
However, some residents said such promises have not materialised in the past.
“I have been hearing this for the last 10 years, that the dealers will go. As you can see, they are all still here. Meanwhile, we are suffering because there’s no place to park. This is a family residential area, it’s not meant to be a commercial hub,” said Bahadur Khan, a Pakistani motorist who lives in the area.
Z.H., a former Indian resident of Abu Shagara, said he left the area because of the parking problems. “After a long hard day at work, I had to spend a long time finding parking near my home. And once you found a space, you couldn’t leave because you would loose it otherwise. My guests faced similar problems, it was so embarrassing,” he said.
It is not rare to find cars double and even triple-parked in Abu Shagara. Motorists leave their mobile number on chits on their car so they can be called to move their car to allow the blocked ones to leave.
“I have to walk in this heat to my neighbourhood mosque because I cannot take my car — where will I park it?” another resident, who did not give his name, said. It is not easy to find parking there even in the middle of a working day when people are out at work. At night, when motorists return home, finding an empty space is extremely difficult.
However, an end to their woes could be in sight in the near future as several dealers confirmed officials have asked them to relocate. A Jordanian dealer with two showrooms said most dealers will leave by September.
“We kept asking for extensions to remain here as the new complex wasn’t ready and we felt we had been given short notices. But this time it’s serious, we will have to go. We will be fined heavily if we stay,” the dealer said, only giving his name as A.B.
Other dealers said there is no universally-applicable deadline to relocate. They said they will leave after their current rent period expires, which will no longer be renewed in Abu Shagara. A few dealers said some contracts for the new complex have already been signed.
Rent for the dealers at the new complex is said to be much higher than Abu Shagara rates, which are negotiable.
Dealers said they will be charged as per the number of cars that can be displayed. That number will be set in batches, such as 9, 13, 24 and 44 cars, according to dealers. They added that for 13 cars, the rent is around Dh100,000; for 24 cars, the rent is about Dh245,000 per year; and for 44 cars the rent is approximately Dh360,000.
