Street battles for parking

Lines have been erased and boundaries encroached. The battle for parking a car has spilled out of the buildings on to the streets of Doha.

The battle has been raging for some time now. However, the constant addition of new residential buildings in densely-populated inner Doha has forced new tenants to park their cars on the roads, effectively reducing two-way streets to alleys.

“All these new private buildings are being built and they do not create enough parking facility,” said a long-time resident of Doha Jadeed.

“With the edges of the street usurped by the building during construction and half by their tenants’ vehicles, how is any actual traffic supposed to get through,” asked the agitated tenant who claimed to have become tired of honking and waiting just to be able to park his modest hatchback.

While the increased prosperity of the last decade has encouraged the use of “super-sized” cars besides families owning multiple vehicles, the roads in the crowded areas of Bin Mahmoud, Musheireb, Muntazah, Najma, Doha Jadeed, Mughilina and Bin Omran have effectively become narrower.

Above all, a staggering 10,000 new vehicles are hitting Doha’s roads every month.

Meanwhile, popular malls, airport and souqs have already or will start charging for parking in Qatar.

“One would imagine the building permit section looking at the actual location before approving the design of a building. But judging by the haphazard construction taking place all around, it looks otherwise,” said a tenant in Bin Mahmoud.

“Because there was not ample parking provided in the building at the time of construction, cars will obviously be parked outside the buildings,” he said.

Some car owners have started “marking their territory” in what happens to be a public passageway. Building blocks, road-warning cones, empty bottles and anything that will stick to the road are being used.

“Now if you can safely back your car out of your building grazing past an annoying cone, manoeuvring between the garbage bin and road blocks, avoiding dents to your vehicle, congratulations. You have won the battle,” the Doha Jadeed resident said.

“But only for a day.”