Photo: smartparkingqatar.com
As the parking issue worsens with an increase in population and the number of vehicles in the country, the Ministry of Transport and Communication is set to give final shape to “2017 Parking Master Plan” in April this year.
The Parking Master Plan will be given final shape in the second annual Smart Parking Qatar conference to be held on April 10-11. The second annual Smart Parking Qatar conference, a component of Project Qatar exhibition, will “develop car parking management strategies and innovations for sustainable and livable cities”.
Project Qatar is organised under the auspices of the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani. “The 2nd Annual Smart Parking Qatar conference will be discussing the 2017 Parking Master Plan that will be issued by the Ministry of Transport & Communication and identify the opportunities available around FIFA World Cup 2022,” says the website.
The master plan will introduce parking policy as well as bring plans for new parking lots and the adoption of sophisticated multi-level automated parking systems. According to technical calculations, commercial and office developments require one parking space for every 65sqm of floor area, while residential colonies need either one space per 120sqm or one space per apartment.
Market sources think that Automated Mechanized Parking systems could be the solution to parking woes particularly in urban areas. These systems can be ideally installed in condensed urban areas to provide a quick and reliable solution to parking problems.
The parking related problems are on the rise in Qatar with an increase in population and the number of vehicles. According to recently released figures by the Ministry of Development Planning & Statistics, there was a 61.2percent increase in the number of new vehicles registered in Qatar in October 2016 compared to the previous month. As many as 8,629 vehicles were registered in October while the number of newly registered vehicles in September stood at 5,352. In November last year, 8271 vehicles were registered.
According to official estimates, the total number of registered vehicles increased in Qatar from 130,000 in 1996 to around 1,000,000 in 2014.
“Qatar is seeing an increase in the construction of new malls, hotels and mixed used developments including Lusail Smart City over the next few years. In addition, consultants for QRail have started working on the integration of space and parking (park & ride) before tendering out for contracting in the next year. There are also legacy plans for the stadiums, which all involve potential smart parking investments,” says Smart Parking Qatar website.
The first and inaugural Smart Parking Qatar 2016 was held last year with the support of the National Traffic Safety Committee, and the event gathered more than 130 delegates.
