Dubai: Residents have welcomed Nakheel’s move to tow abandoned cars in International City to help free up parking spaces and said more can be done to fix the problem once and for all.
Nakheel has started removing abandoned cars in International City that residents said are taking up residential spaces that should have been allotted to them. Many residents are faced with illegal parking fines running in the thousands of dirhams as they are forced to park by the bend when all the spaces have been taken.
Abandoned cars are those left behind for good by their owners after leaving the UAE. They are easy to spot as most of them have some parts missing or broken such as a missing side mirror, a busted headlight, or burst tyres, among other things. They are parked in the same spot and no one comes to move them. They gather dust and are left exposed to the elements. Sometimes, they don’t have number plates or, even if they do, the plates have already expired.
“They removed the cars that had towing notices on them. We still have a problem in finding parking as there is not enough space but it’s much better now than before,” Farah, a Syrian resident who lives in the Russia Cluster, told Gulf News.
“Because some cars had been towed, it saved us some spaces. But still, generally, it’s not enough,” she added.
A spokesperson from Nakheel confirmed the developer has removed several cars so far.
“We continue to work towards enhancing the community by implementing new measures for overcoming these challenges. We have removed around 180 abandoned vehicles so far, and this activity will continue,” a spokesperson told Gulf News in a statement.
International City is a mixed-use development primarily marketed to middle class residents with over 22,000 residences and over 5,000 retail units in 387 buildings. Competition for parking space at night is stiff for its estimated 60,000 residents.
Bert Maquiling, 31, a Spain Cluster resident who has been fined several times for parking illegally, said: “This helps us a lot because many residents compete for parking every night when they come home from work. Some have to wait for others to get a spot. But aside from removing the abandoned cars, Nakheel has also replaced the huge trash bins that used to occupy two parking spaces with a smaller one to free up two spaces.”
For A. Karim, who lives in the France Cluster, Nakheel’s move is helpful but should just be the start.
“Nakheel has started posting notices asking rental cars, cars with blue plates for export, old cars, and even abandoned cars to be removed. My friend who owns a rental company here said they have been told to move their business elsewhere [as the rental cars occupy space],” Karim, who has been working as a driver for eight years, said.
Other residents said since the problem with abandoned cars is now being resolved bit by bit, other problems still exist such as light commercial cars being fined in the area. The Nakheel spokesperson, however, said they are already working “on a solution to manage the parking challenges that will streamline all parking access across International City and further improve the situation for residents and business owners in the community”.
