MAKKAH — The Makkah municipality has built 3,000 smart parking spaces allowing citizens to reserve their parking space from home, Makkah newspaper reported.
Municipality Revamping and Humanization Director Raid Mominah said the municipality plans to have smart parking lots all over the city.
“The project has three phases and by the end of it there will be 8,400 parking spaces in the city. The first phase consists of 3,000 parking spaces to be put in operation and is located in the most crowded streets of Makkah: Al-Mila, Al-Misfalah and the Holy Mosque,” said Mominah.
He added the parking lots will be in operation in 45 days allowing citizens and residents of Makkah to reserve their parking spaces online and from the comfort of their home.
“The whole project is expected to end by 2018. The parking spaces will be more organized increasing the capacity of parking spaces 10 times and owners of shopping centers will earn more profit. The streets will also be more organized after the project is completed,” said Mominah.
He added with organized and safer roads and streets, the municipality will be able to build pedestrian walkways.
“The municipality has contracted with a national company to implement this project. All of the targeted areas were scanned and mapped. The project took into consideration the underground services of the areas and their infrastructures,” said Mominah.
He also said the municipality has cooperated with the Ministry of Transport and the Traffic Department to implement this project.
“The priority in reservation is always given to visitors of the Holy Mosque and people with special needs. They can check the availability of parking spaces online before going to their destination so as not to be troubled with lack of parking spaces,” said Mominah.
He also said once the project is complete, the municipality will launch a two-month media campaign raising awareness of the project and introducing it to people.
“Our outreach will be done in three languages. We will have a testing period where citizens can test the new technology and get used to using it,” said Mominah.
With the introduction of these smart car parking the municipality hopes to ease the traffic congestion with a seamless flow of traffic near and around the Haram. With the city getting 8,400 parking spaces the problem of people leaving their old and damaged vehicles along streets within the city could be tackled.
Residents of Makkah have been calling on the authorities to take immediate corrective measures to stop such tendencies of people. Such eyesores not only tarnishes the the image of the holy city that hosts millions of Haj and Umrah pilgrims from all over the world every year, but also proves a haven for drug trafficking and other crimes.
