A visit to Zabeel Park, Dubai Frame, Garden Glow to cost more

DUBAI MUNICIPALITY INTRODUCES PAID PARKING TO PREVENT MISUSE OF PARKING LOTS

Visiting Dubai’s Zabeel Park, including the popular tourist attractions like Dubai Frame and Dubai Garden Glow situated inside the facility, has become costlier after Dubai Municipality introduced a paid parking system for visitors. Parking entry gates and cabins have been installed at all gates of Zabeel Park. Visitors can either pay for the day or purchase access cards with monthly packages.

Ahmad Ebrahim Al Zarouni, director of Parks and Recreational Facilities Department at the municipality, told Gulf News that the civic body introduced the paid parking system in the park located in the heart of the city to avoid people from the nearby areas misusing the parking slots. He and a representative of the private agency managing the parking answered the following questions posed by Gulf News.

How much is the parking fee?

Under the new gated parking, visitors can enjoy free parking for the first 20 minutes. After that they need to pay Dh10 for the rest of the day, irrespective of the duration of parking, said Al Zarouni.

There is a monthly access card for Dh120 for joggers. It was Dh150 in the beginning and was reduced to Dh120 following the requests from joggers,

said the parking management company. Another monthly access card of Dh200 is available for residents in the area using the park. “Those who are parking their cars for going to work or home, can use this card, which gives unlimited access for a month for Dh200. They can park 24x7.”

Where is it implemented?

“This has been implemented across all the areas under the

park based on the customers’ suggestions as the residents around the park misused the public park’s parking lots,” said Al Zarouni.

How did they misuse the parking areas?

“They occupied the free parking to avoid paying the parking fees in their areas, without taking into consideration that this parking is dedicated for the Zabeel Park visitors. Meanwhile,

our investors also complained about some business areas around Zabeel Park also being misused. The paid parking system had to be implemented across all the areas of the park because of the same reason.”

What are joggers saying?

Dubai residents, who regularly use the jogging track at Zabeel Park are unhappy about the move. Joggers, who come in their vehicles and park

their cars in the park’s parking slots, say they should be exempted from the Dh10 parking fee. “I jog at least two to three times around Zabeel Park. I was shocked to see the parking gates and paid parking for Dh10,” said Nasreen Abdullah.

“We received their complaints. We are working with the parking management company to sort out the issue and give a reasonable rate for the joggers,” said Al Zarouni.