Mohsen Al-Hazmy Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The municipality has created 15,000 paid parking spaces, which will be open for public use in the coming weeks. Al-Mawaqif National Company CEO Hafiz Al-Zubair said last year the municipality focused on completing the infrastructure of several parking lots in Jeddah. “The municipality has also constructed pedestrian walkways in a number of neighborhoods such as Al-Hindawiyah, Souq Al-Janoobiyah, Old Jeddah, Bab Makkah and underneath King Fahd Bridge. All these areas are busy commercial centers,” said Al-Zubair. He said the municipality also focused on giving pedestrians the right to walk around safely. “The parking spaces will allow people to shop without stress. With more organized parking, shoppers won't have to worry about their cars being towed away by police or other vehicles obstructing their way,” said Al-Zubair. He said the municipality had set up 10,000 new parking spaces last year and they are currently open for public use. “The parking fee is SR3 per hour. Drivers may pay for the parking fee by coins or through a prepaid account. The prepaid account is set up online and all payment procedures can be done online as well. The driver would receive a service number every time he initiates a payment. He would then enter the service number into the parking meter and the meter will automatically deduct the fee depending on the number of hours the parking space is used,” said Al-Zubair. He added each parking space has an area of 2.5 sq. meters and parking spaces reserved for special needs people have an area of 4 sq. meters each. “People who park their cars without paying will incur a fine of SR75 while illegal parking will incur a fine of SR100. The fine may increase if the municipality had to tow the car away,” said Al-Zubair.
