Clarifying the rules of parking

The tweaks to parking bylaws in the capital are welcome, but do they apply to boats?

Mawaqif inspectors will now have the right to tow vehicles that have been put up for sale or that are serving commercial or promotional purposes inside car parks. Delores Johnson / The National
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Few topics arouse as much consternation as parking. That is especially the case in Abu Dhabi, where paid parking was only rolled out across the city in 2009 and where, at times, especially on Abu Dhabi island and downtown, it can feel like there are more cars than could ever legally be parked.

Now, the emirate’s Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport has sought to clarify some of the bylaws and regulations that apply to parking. The headline change is that inspectors will now have the right to tow vehicles that have been put up for sale or that are serving commercial or promotional purposes inside car parks. This won’t apply to many vehicles across the tens of thousands of parking spaces, but will gradually free up places here and there.

The same applies to clarifying how many complimentary parking spaces that hotels, hospitals and government agencies can have. Particularly in the city centre, where there are many smaller hotels clustered together, this will again release spaces for general public use. Piece by piece, spaces are being released.

Careful readers will wonder, then, why such clarity is not brought to the issue of boats. Because, as our story this week noted, leisure and fishing boats have been found taking over parking spaces in parts of the capital. This is a very specific problem, confined to those who actually own boats and for whom the berthing charges have simply become too expensive.

There is, again, a lack of clarity on the issue, as our report showed. Parking a boat on a public road is illegal, of course. But some felt if one were parked in front of their property, that was acceptable. But there are laws relating to the appearance and health of Abu Dhabi and those could be applied to boats. What is an elegant vehicle to one is an eyesore to another.

So some clarity on this topic would be useful, for boat owners and for those driving past them. Just as the regulations on who can park where have been clarified, it would also be good to have clarity on who can park what.