Ajman drivers search for parking

AJMAN // Residents of Ajman apartment blocks have voiced their frustration at a lack of parking spaces. They said parking around buildings is a “nightmare” and have called for the municipality to solve the problem. Lobna Abdullah, an Egyptian media executive, said she spends up to 45 minutes looking for a space after work.

“It is not easy to find parking in front of my building each day,” said the 27-year-old. Ms Abdullah, who has been living in Ajman Corniche for 17 years and works in Dubai, regards parking as a 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. “We have three cars, for my father, my mother and me, so one of my parents parked 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 a rising 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. Reem Mohammed, a Lebanese student recruitment adviser at a university in Dubai, said of the Al Nuaimiya area, her home for 15 years: “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: “There is a plan to establish multistorey parking that can accommodate a large number of vehicles in the populated and old areas where towers have no parking lots.”