Muscat – Muscat Municipality announced a decision earlier this month to convert more areas to paid parking zones in Muscat, to meet the growing urbanisation and population density of the city, that has made people anxious.

Starting March 6, parking lots around Sultan Qaboos Mosque in Ruwi; parking adjacent to Sultan Qaboos Street and opposite commercial buildings in South Al Khuwayr; and new car parks and those behind the Ooredoo store in Al Khoud Souq will be paid parking.

Muscat-based entrepreneur Khalid al Taei said, “As the population increases across the country, cities continue to develop and the usage of vehicles increase, too. Paid parking will be a deterrent against people parking their cars for extended duration of time or for days on end causing shortage of space, especially in commercial areas.”

But Taei believes there are more ways to develop parking facilities across the city and that Muscat Municipality’s SMS parking notification service may not be efficient in the long term. “An alternative way to pay can be via a smartphone application, where people can choose more vehicles, select duration of parking and pay using their bank cards,” he said. “People are often unsure if a parking is paid or free. Sometimes the signboard with these details is not visible from all directions. A better way is to paint the area in a specific colour that will clearly indicate if it’s paid or free parking.”

He also suggested businesses, such as hotels, be allowed a number of parking permits to help them serve their guests.

Agreeing with Taei on the issue of signboards, Marwan Sameer al Musallami, a resident of Ghubra, said, “I have been fined for parking for just a few seconds. I went to a coffee shop to buy some snacks and was fined RO10 in the blink of an eye. I could not see the signboard in a corner facing the road.”

Musallami rues the fact that for a 500bz snack, he ended up paying RO10 in parking fine. “It’s really frustrating. Though I am not against parking charges or even fines, the signboards must be placed strategically so it’s visible from every corner of the parking area. Alternatively the municipality can opt for a monthly or annual fee in coordination with Royal Oman Police and charge a standard small amount from all car owners in the city. It will save time and money for everyone,” he added.

Parking fee are charged between 8am and 1pm and from 4pm to 9pm, with the exception of Fridays, Saturdays and official holidays. Those who wish to reserve a parking slot can do so by sending an SMS to 90091 containing the car number, alphabetical code, and the time period required (in multiples of 30 minutes to a maximum of 300 minutes).