Dubai: Many residents of Al Khail Gate have started parking outside the residential community after new parking fees and fines came into effect on July 1.
With the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) beginning to implement fines for parking violations in the community from July 1, several residents are parking their cars outside the community off Al Khail Road in Al Quoz.
After giving a two-week grace period to roll out the 24-hour paid parking system following an agreement with the developer Dubai Properties, the RTA deputed inspectors to check parking violations in the community from Sunday.
However, those who have bought seasonal parking permits for up to Dh2500 from the RTA said they now have peace of mind once they come back home from work as there are plenty of free parking spaces even if it is late.
- Abdul Basheer | Al Khail Gate resident
While parking spaces remain free inside the community, all the parking lots, including the sandy areas, around the community are now full of vehicles parked by residents who did not buy the permits.
Hundreds of these residents, including women, are walking for kilometres to reach their buildings inside the vast community with 9000 apartments.
A.B.P, who could get only one parking permit for his wife as the family lives in a one bed room apartment, said it took around 45 minutes for him to get a parking for his car in a sandy area after the Madina Hypermarket behind the community on Sunday. It took another 15 to 20 minutes to reach home by walking, he said.
“All the slots in the large parking lot outside the North Gate were already full by the time I reached the community around 7.45pm.”
Some families with two cars, who had given notices to move out due to the high parking fees, have started leaving the community.
Some like M. Shelley said they had given notices as the management had, at that time, not informed them about providing No Objection Certificate for two cars for those living in two bed room apartments. Some are planning to leave once their tenancy contracts end.
M. Sarma, who has given notice to vacate on August 10, said she bought a Dh1000 parking permit for three months as it is better than paying Dh960 for a month.
Some residents, who paid for parking through the meters, said they could not use their Nol cards to make the payment.
“I had to put 32 one dirham coins to get the 24-hour ticket from the parking meter near my building. It is going to be practically difficult for people to get these many coins every day if Nol cards don’t work,” said Abdul Basheer.
He pointed out that it will also be difficult for people to make part payments as they will have to wake up at night to renew their parking tickets.
When contacted, RTA said residents can approach the developer or RTA’s call centre 8009090 for clarifications about the parking queries in Al Khail Gate.
Meanwhile, Gulf News learnt that employees of two large companies living in their staff accommodation in the community have been informed by their employers to wait for some more days before they purchase the parking permits as the companies are negotiating for corporate deals.
The employees of one company have been told to display the company’s sticker to avoid being fined, while another company has asked its employees to submit the receipts for fines, if they incur any, so that the company could get them waived on special request.
