High-tech car park opens

Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon, chairman of the Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi, second right, inaugurated a new three-storey, underground car park in Al Dana on Tuesday. The Dh120 million facility can accommodate 726 vehicles, including electric and hybrids. Wam

ABU DHABI // The first multi-storey underground car park with recharging points for hybrid and electric vehicles opened on Tuesday in the emirate.

Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon, chairman of the Department of Transport (DoT) in Abu Dhabi, inaugurated the Dh120 million, 726-space car park in Al Dana that features four bays for environmentally-friendly cars.

“We’ve introduced the parking bays for hybrid and electric vehicles to support sustainability and environmental protection,” said Khalid Hashim, executive director of the DoT’s surface transport sector.

“Reducing emissions and increasing the use of such vehicles is part of our objectives. That’s why we’ve started a pilot project here by keeping a fleet of hybrid and electric vehicles and a few charging points.”

The three-storey car park, located near the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development and the Ministry of Finance buildings, is at the junction of Al Falah Street and Fatima bint Mubarak Street.

Mr Hashim said the building’s designers had created the facility with the idea of making it more attractive for motorists.

“We’ve tried to make parking more comfortable for people and to change the environment of a car park,” Mr Hashim said. “There will be commercial outlets and recreational facilities so it’s not a dull place where people park and want to leave as soon as they can.”

Above the car park, a park for families with a children’s play areas has been built.

Mr Hashim said it would “significantly solve” the immediate needs of motorists in the area.

Hazzaa Al Mansouri, who works at the General Secretariat of the Executive Council, said he previously circled the block for up to 30 minutes in search of a spot.

“This new multi-storey underground car park is an excellent project,” said the 33-year-old. “We hope more of these would be built in other areas of Abu Dhabi.”

Mayur Shetty, a sales manager at an IT company, supported the idea. “This area used to be cordoned off last year while the car park was being built so we would park across the street or near the Citibank building,” said the 29-year-old.

“It was such a big relief for us when the surface car park was opened to the public five months ago. For the past three months, we were also able to park for free in the underground car park as part of the trial phase.”

Mawaqif, a division of the DoT, is keen on connecting the city’s multi-storey car parks so that motorists can use a mobile app to view how many spaces are available.

Mr Hashim said there were plans to build more multi-storey car parks, but this would be decided by Abu Dhabi Municipality, which works closely with DoT to identify parking needs. “The municipality has plans to build five multi-storey car parks in various locations, and all are now under tender,” he said.

Over the next three years, pay-parking schemes will be expanded across the capital to tackle the shortage of spaces and improve traffic flow.

At the moment, there are 105,000 bays on the streets, which Mawaqif regulates.

The DoT is also undertaking a study to introduce additional parking bays for hybrid and electric vehicles at multi-storey and street level car parks in Abu Dhabi.