Parking permits in Dubai's Tecom from April 13: Will your parking space go?

In less than a week, companies registered in Tecom will have to comply with new parking regulations issued by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

What does this mean for employees?

On April 13 this year, parking in the three Tecom areas Media City, Knowledge Village and Internet City will commence to be regulated with the issuance of parking permits.

Parking permits can be obtained by registered companies from Tecom Investments, a subsidiary of the Dubai Holding Group and the regulatory body of the free zone.

Each company has the right to a certain number of parking slots, and the company may in turn distribute these parking slots to its employees.

However, many employees are clueless to this point about the new parking regulations, and whether their parking spot will remain secured.

"We heard about the regulations. But we have not heard of any solution from our company. I believe this solution still needs to be formed," says the employee of a big media company located in Media City.

"I have not heard of any announcements regarding the parking permits," says another employee of a public relations office located in Media City.

"I do come to work by car though. I might just start coming to work by Metro if I do not have a guaranteed parking slot. But I would not mind paying for one," he adds.

For companies that have applied for the parking permits, two major questions play a role; who will get the slots and against what price?
Because not every company receives the same number of permits as the number of employees working for that company, allocation of the slots can become a tricky business.

"When I asked my manager, I was told that the company was allocated 8 or 9 parking slots. There are 65 employees working in our company, so I do not know how this will be arranged," says another employee of a digital firm located in Media City.

"In our company, the management has decided to allocate the parking slots to those employees who come by car most often," tells another employee of a digital company located in Media City.

At a large media company in Media City, all employees seem to be allocated a parking slot. However, not everybody is happy, because from this month on the parking slot will cost the employee.

"Our company has decided to pay for half of the price of a parking slot. The other half will need to be paid by the employee," comments one of the employees of the company.

The agreement between RTA and Tecom Investments aims to streamline the use of public parking, reduce traffic grids, provide the largest possible number of parking slots for users, and curb the disorderly and dangerous parking practices undermining the safety of road users, said Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA earlier.

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