The new paid parking program, Mawaqif, has been announced by the Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi

What area is covered?

Paid parking will be applied to 2,500 spaces initially in a block bounded by Khalifa, Bani Yas (Al Najda), Hamdan and Liwa Streets. This is the first of nine stages to be rolled out in the next two years, by which time all of the downtown area and much of the rest of the city will be covered – a total of 75,000 parking spaces.

 

What are the charges? There are two levels of charge, for standard or premium areas.

Type	Identified by	Per hour	Max time	Full day
Premium	Turquoise and white stripes on kerb	AED 3	Four hours (AED 12)	not available
Standard	Turquoise and black stripes on kerb	AED 2	24 hours	AED 15

How can you pay? The parking machines will take both coins and prepaid cards. The cards have face values of AED 50 and AED 100; these are one-time cards and cannot be topped up.

How to use the meter? Insert coins or card, choose the number of hours required, press the green button, wait for the receipt to be printed and then display it on your dashboard.

How about residents’ parking? Building owners will be asked to allocate parking spaces to their tenants; where available, private parking permits for these will cost AED 800 per year for the first car and AED 1200 for a second car – you will be able to register only two. These are available from the Customer Service Centre on Hamdan Street (open 7am-11pm Saturday to Thursday, 5-9pm Friday). You’ll need to show some proof of residency (a utilities bill or a lease agreement would do).

How is it enforced? Parking wardens will issue on-the-spot fines for drivers who park illegally. They can also pass on photographic evidence of more serious violations to the police, who will register the offences and hand out Black Points. Repeat offenders will have their vehicles towed.

What are the fines? There is a long list of offences (see the box) but the commonest will be overstaying the time on the meter receipt – for which the fine will be AED 200.

What indicates a prohibited parking area? The existing red kerb still signifies access to fire hydrants and for emergency services; a new yellow and grey striping on the kerb indicates other areas where you should not park.

Who’s in charge? This is a DoT initiative but two separate companies will be the public face of the project.

IMUM’s role is to actually manage all surface and underground parking areas installing and maintaining the parking meters, collecting parking fees, selling prepaid cards, and providing residents’ parking permits. IMUM will also be in charging of maintaining and renovating underground parking areas.

Saeed will be responsible for overseeing the paid parking (both surface and underground parking) with “qualified and competent parking inspectors and supervisors” – the parking wardens will be Saeed employees and fines will be issued by Saeed on behalf of the DoT. (Saeed is the private company which is also responsible for handling the Emirate’s minor traffic accidents outside the city of Abu Dhabi.)

More information: try www.mawaqif.ae, though it is a bit skimpy at present – basic information is there, however.

PARKING FINES

Overstaying the maximum permitted time	AED 100
Parked with an expired, forged or damaged resident permit or parking meter ticket	AED 200
Parked without clearly displaying a valid resident permit or valid parking meter ticket	AED 200
Incorrectly parked within the markings of the bay or the space	AED 200
Parked at a restricted bus stop	AED 200
Parked with one or more wheels on any part of the pavement	AED 200
Parked where loading/unloading restrictions are in force	AED 200
Parked on a restricted space or yellow box, or in other unauthorised places	AED 200
Parked in sand areas	AED 200
Double parking	AED 300
Parked on pedestrian crossings	AED 500
Parked in a designated special needs parking place without clearly displaying a valid special needs permit	AED 1,000
Parked on a bay designated for fire hydrant, ambulance, bank, VIP or government, diplomatic, consulate and local authorities	AED 1,000
Parked on designated bays outside hotels or trading companies	AED 1,000