NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL
Parking free-for-all to be eliminated
ABU DHABI - NOV 11:The introduction of more than 2,500 paid parking meters on some of the capital’s most congested roads came a step closer yesterday.
It followed the disclosure that the Department of Transport (DoT) is to take over responsibility for managing the city’s parking.
Until recently, Abu Dhabi Municipality was in charge of implementing measures, including pay-and-display parking, to help solve the capital’s chronic parking problems. As a first step, meters were installed on Hamdan Street two years ago, but they remain unused.
The British firm NCP Services said earlier this year it had been appointed by the Government to manage the parking programme for the downtown area and part of Airport Road.
On the sidelines of the Middle East Parking Symposium yesterday, Saeed al Hameli, general manager of bus transportation for the DoT, said the department would integrate the parking management programme – which includes the 2,500 parking meters – into a master plan for improving transport in the emirate.
The Government plans an integrated local transport system with a network of trams, metro lines, high-speed rail and buses. Park-and-rides and high-occupancy vehicle lanes are among many elements being considered.
“Responsibility of parking management has been shifted to DoT and now the DoT is working with the [surface transport master plan] outcomes on how to integrate the parking with the new plan of transport,” Mr Hameli said.
He was unsure when implementation would begin. “The municipality was working for years on this project, including the contracts and how to make it flow with the DoT plan. It will take some time,” he said.
During a presentation on the parking programme, NCP Services said it would take a year to implement its first phase. During that time parking enforcement officers would be recruited and trained, residents’ parking permits will be issued and a media campaign launched.
A system to manage the programme will also be configured, a contact centre established, and a parking shop set up for residents to buy permits and pay fines. There will be a transition period during which warnings without fines will be handed out to errant parkers.
The size of fines has not been specified. There will be a clamping and removal service for repeat offenders and car pounds will be established.
The scheme is to be rolled out in 10 three-month stages covering zones within Abu Dhabi Island that include the central business district and Tourist Club area and a strip along Airport Road to Al Saada Street.
“What we are doing is not a panacea to Abu Dhabi’s problems with traffic and parking,” said Mark Underwood, the chief executive of NCP Services. “It has to be part of a broader strategy that the Government is putting together.
“What we are helping them do is manage one facet of that, and the one facet is to control the streets and bring order so traffic can flow more readily. Similarly, it’s about controlling the demand because people will not come into the city, they’ll use public transport.”
A department of planning and economy report issued in the summer said some landlords were taking advantage of the lack of spaces by charging residents to park. It also said 600 cars were registered each day last year in Abu Dhabi, twice the rate of population growth in the emirate, and that a lack of public transport options was adding to the problems.
Motorists said they were in favour of a pay-and-display scheme if the cost was reasonable and it made it easier to find parking.
Amjad Ramadan, 28, who was parked next to a fire hydrant on Al Hamdan Street, said he was always late for work because he spent at least half an hour searching for parking. Underground car parks were not always available, he said.
“We pay for all these parking tickets, so we might as well pay for parking,” said Mr Ramadan, from Syria.
Habib Noor Mohammed, 36, a delivery driver, said he lost time circling for a parking spot as he tried to drop things off: “Pay and display is OK, as long as it’s reasonable.”
Police launch new English web services
ABU DHABI - NOV 11:Police have relaunched a portion of their website to allow English-speaking residents to send in complaints and questions directly.
The “cleaner” design of the English portion of the website will simplify online navigation, said Rashed al Shamsi, manager of e-services for the force’s IT branch.
“We are trying to put information that really could help the user know everything related to the Abu Dhabi Police,” he said. “Our goal is to make the content more useful.”
The site will offer buttons for quick access to city maps, prayer times and weather forecasts. Residents can also look up information about their registered vehicles.
“We plan also to do some traffic services, where you can inquire about the car listed under your name and about tickets and your payment,” Mr Shamsi said. “From the old website, you can only inquire about tickets. Now you can see more details on your profile, like the cause of a car accident recorded in our database.
“This fully automated system is important because it assists complaints and suggestions,” Mr Shamsi said. “There is a special strategic department with a quality assurance team that will receive these complaints.”
The site, www.abudhabipolice.gov.ae/en, is expected to be fully operational tomorrow.
Abu Dhabi to counter downturn in Western tourists
ABU DHABI - NOV 11: Abu Dhabi needs to attract tourists from the Middle East to shield itself from a likely downturn in western visitors caused by the global financial crisis, a senior tourism official said yesterday.
Lawrence Franklin, the director of strategy and policy at Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, said there was “no doubt” the country would experience a decline in visitors from major markets including Britain, the US and Germany.
The cancellation of winter holidays is a typical consumer reaction during periods of economic hardship.
However, despite signs of a weakening tourism market, Mr Franklin said Abu Dhabi would continue to experience rising visitor numbers so long as the countries in the region remained economically sound.
Business tourism would also follow areas where economies were “still fresh”, he said.
“A lot of the demand for tourism products and services in Abu Dhabi is generated within the region, so as the region remains strong, that demand will remain strong,” he told delegates to the Abu Dhabi Conference, an event organised by MEED Middle East Business Intelligence.
“I think this year the growth rate will slow, however we’ll still be significantly in the black in terms of tourist growth.
“Overall, we are still absolutely positive about 2009,” Mr Franklin said.
In a sign of the increasingly difficult economic climate, Emirates Airline yesterday reported a sharply reduced net profit for the six months to Sept 30, one of the most challenging periods in aviation history.
Its Dh284 million (US$77m) profit for the period was 88 per cent down on the bumper result of Dh2.36bn for the same six months of 2007.
Senior officials from the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and the Dubai Department of Commerce, Tourism and Marketing are attending the World Travel Market in London this week to showcase the UAE and compete with holiday destinations around the world.
Abu Dhabi aims to attract three million tourists a year by 2013. Visitor numbers by the end of this year are expected to reach between one million and 1.5 million.
With hotel accommodation in limited supply – many hotels in the capital experience average occupancy rates above 85 per cent – the construction of new accommodation is a critical component of Abu Dhabi’s tourism plans.
But with the global banking system in disarray and overseas credit increasingly hard to obtain there is concern that major hospitality projects will not get off the ground.
“There is a lot of talk and hotel developers are doing their own investigations to see what the short-term future holds,” Mr Franklin said. However, he added that Abu Dhabi would be able to achieve its tourism targets even if there was “slippage” in proposed capacity.
There are currently about 13,000 hotel and hotel apartment rooms in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. This is due to increase by up to 8,000 rooms in 2009 and to hit a total of 30,000 rooms by 2013.
Asked how Abu Dhabi’s visitor numbers would be affected as the financial crisis continues, Paul Macpherson, the director of the Jumeirah Group, said: “Being realistic about it, there will be a slowing of projects and a reduction in the number of hotels that come on stream, but there will be this continued growth.
“Major players will continue to be able to fund their projects, but maybe to slow down those at design phase. The smaller projects will be easier to fund at a time when the best of the banks are frozen in their path of providing credit.”
Ivor McBurney, Hilton Hotels’ Middle East vice president for development, said it was “above and beyond reasonable expectations” for Abu Dhabi’s tourism industry to maintain its current growth rate.
Operators have indicated that their short-term expansion plans will not be affected and that planned hotels have not been cancelled, due partly to the fact that hospitality projects typically include residential and commercial space that are more attractive to lenders.
Abu Dhabi-based Rotana Hotels, which runs four hotels in the emirate, will open at several here next year, on Yas Island, opposite Emirates Palace hotel and near Khalifa Park. The developments would double its number of rooms to 2,400, said Aman Sachdev, the vice president of development.
Hilton Hotels, which runs three hotels in Abu Dhabi, is building another under its Conrad brand on the Corniche,
The luxury operator Jumeirah Group is building its first project in Abu Dhabi, a six-tower, mixed-use project on the Corniche near Emirates Palace hotel. It will bring 400 hotel rooms and 200 serviced apartments on to the market in about two years. The company will also run a beach resort on Saadiyat Island.
Examining other challenges facing the hospitality sector, industry insiders said hotel operators might struggle to attract staff in sufficient numbers to man new openings.
“We can’t just go over to South Asia and take another 5,000 people. They’re becoming increasingly difficult to find,” said Mr Macpherson.
Among the major projects expected to draw people to the emirate is the Formula One Grand Prix, to be held for the first time in the capital on Nov 1 next year. Construction of the Yas Marina Circuit is about 20 per cent complete.
“We believe that the progress is not too bad,” said Philippe Gurdjian, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management.
He said there was still 80 per cent of the project left to be built.
Mr Gurdjian said more than 4,000 people were working on the site. The grandstands, a 500-room five-star hotel, and the media centre are all taking shape, and the marina will be flooded with water in May 2009.
“We spent many months to find the right design, the right spirit and essence for this project because there will be a lot of television and photographers and we’re going to show to the world something really unique.
“It was the reason we had to spend more time on the design and the concept before we started it.”
Two girls snatched by man near to home
DUBAI - NOV 11: Police have rescued two young Iraqi sisters after they were snatched from near their home behind the Burj Dubai early yesterday.
The Criminal Investigation Department at Dubai Police confirmed a man was being questioned. Police sources said the suspect was wearing traditional Arab dress when he took the sisters to the roof of the building they live in, close to the Burj Dubai development. They were found later by officers.
It is not yet known whether the girls, aged four and 12, were harmed during their ordeal, although the man in custody claimed he did not hurt them, police said.
The girls told officers that the man who took them spoke with an Egyptian accent, according to a spokesman for Dubai CID.