Ajman residents bemoan parking misery and call for action

They say parking around buildings in many areas is a nightmare, particularly in the evenings and at weekends.

AJMAN // Residents of Ajman apartment blocks have voiced their frustration at a lack of parking spaces.

They said parking around buildings is a nightmare, particularly in the evenings and at weekends, and have called for the municipality to take solve the problem.

Lobna Ahmad Abdullah, an Egyptian media executive, said she spends between 30 and 45 minutes looking for a space after work, adding to the stress of a drive home from Dubai.

“It is not easy to find parking in front of my building, and most of the time I do park far away,” the 27-year-old said.

Ms Abdullah, who has been living in an apartment on Ajman Corniche for 17 years, regards parking as a major amenity and quality of life issue.

“After getting stuck in traffic for two hours every day after work, I come home and spend more than 30 minutes searching for a space to park my car, and it definitely increases my exhaustion,” she said.

“Even though there is parking lots in my building, we have three cars, for my father, my mother and me, so one of my parents parkd in the building and the other two park outside.”

Asaad Mahmoud, a Jordanian engineer who has been living in Al Sawan for 23 years, said that an increasing population is to blame.

“It is a core problem for us. I spend about 30 minutes looking for parking, which is not easy at all,” the 30-year-old said.

“If I am lucky, I would find one close to my building but mostly I park far away and need to walk about 200 metres, especially on weekends.”

Reem Mohammed, a Lebanese student recruitment and admission adviser at a university in Dubai, said the Al Nuaimiya area, her home for 15 years, has only unpaved parking areas and there are not enough of those.

“In my area, there are about 10 buildings and all residents park in the sandy yard in an unorganised way,” said the 23-year-old.

“Finding a parking space is too hard, specifically in the evening, and most of the time I park too far from my building.

“One day I came from work and spent an hour looking for a space.”

Mohammed Al Awadhi, a director at the road and infrastructure department at Ajman Municipality, said work is under way to find parking solutions.

“The percentage of parking lots in residential and commercial buildings has been increased this year and populated areas and main roads were provided with paid parking, with other roads having the same in the beginning of 2017,” he said.

“There is a plan to establish multi-storey parking that can accommodate a large number of vehicles in the populated and old areas where towers have no parking lots, and we have started this year studying the areas and creative solutions.”