People from all around the world flock to the artificial desert paradise known as Dubai as tourists or looking for jobs, and as a result, its population has shot up from 1.2-million in 2005 to around 2.1-million today (from only 59,000 or so in 1968).
This has an obvious positive effect on the economy, but it also really pushes the capacity of some of its roads to the limit, so much so that, the city’s rich have revolted and are voicing their concerns through Hussain Lootah, the director general of Dubai Municipality.
According to The National, he was quoted as saying: “Everybody has their luxury life, but the capacity of our roads cannot take all of these cars without ownership laws.”
The solution conjured up to rescue Dubai’s rich from drowning in a sea of white Camrys is to impose very strict limits on car ownership, by implementing a salary scheme that would only allow those who earn a certain amount the privilege to drive.
Other options considered are increasing parking fees, fuel costs and insurance prices. Lootah pointed out that it’s thirty times more expensive to park for one hour in Berlin than it is in Dubai and failed to acknowledge carpooling or awareness campaigns as alternatives. He did concede that pushing more people towards public transport (that also includes a soon to be expanded metro underground system) is, however, advisable.
You can catch a glimpse of the city’s traffic via the video posted below.
By Andrei Nedelea
VIDEO