Jeddah targets more car parking for malls

Shopping malls in Jeddah must have parking areas with a capacity of 500 cars instead of 200, according to new municipal regulations, it was reported on Sunday.

The new guidelines aim to provide problem-free parking without causing the current traffic bottlenecks that blight Jeddah roads, officials said.

“New regulations for parking facilities for buildings have been laid down to guarantee that parking facilities are available, not only at banks, shopping centres, restaurants and malls but at all locations in the city,” Abid Al-Jadaani, director general of the Building Regulations Department at the municipality said in comments published by Arab News on Sunday.

"Despite its population of 3.4 million, Jeddah has no public transport system to speak of.

"Traffic jams have become commonplace in the city following a decade of strong population growth, fueled by immigration from less affluent parts of the Kingdom.”

An additional feature of the new regulation is permission to construct common car parks by several building owners.

“No building will be exempted from the regulations governing parking specifications. In fact, the regulations have been formulated after research into the expected number of cars likely to be present at a location,” Al-Jadaani told the paper in a statement.

Al-Jadaani revealed that several buildings have been denied licenses because of insufficient parking spaces.

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