Truckers find new parking havens

Trucks parked near Barwa Village just on the edge of the old airport in Doha. Picture:  Salman SiddiquiBy Salman Siddiqui/Staff ReporterTruckers are avoiding fines by the Traffic Department by parking their heavy vehicles in open spaces on the outskirts of Doha city in Barwa Village and Wakrah instead of at the specially designed ‘biggest truck yard in the world’ at Barwa Al Baraha in Industrial Area, Gulf Times has learnt.Logistics company owners and heavy vehicle owners say that the government rule only says that they should avoid parking inside the Doha city, which they have begun to do but the ban doesn’t say anything about where not to park in the suburbs.Using this loophole in the rule, one can find many impromptu truck yards springing up all around Barwa Village and Wakrah.The Ministry of Interior’s Traffic Department had announced that with effect from January 30 this year, it would ban the parking of “trucks, machinery, equipment vehicles and tractors or any mechanical vehicles, including trailers or trailer engines, in Doha city and its suburbs, including Lusail, Gharafa, Wajbah, Muaither, Rayyan, Airport, Hilal and Mesaimeer.”Also, on January 9, it was announced that the Barwa Al Baraha Project had become “fully operational” that was capable of accommodating more than 4,000 heavy vehicles. This facility was said to be free for the first six months, after which QR15 will be charged from each truck per entry.A logistic company owner that handles dozens of heavy vehicles told Gulf Times that using the Al Baraha truck yard was ‘out of the question.’“It is just too far from our project sites inside Doha city and there is no way my drivers can go up and down from Al Baraha everyday and meet our own project deadlines,” he said. He added that he had given instructions to his drivers to park the vehicles anywhere in open spaces in Barwa Village or Wakrah. Another logistic company owner said that the Traffic Department had already imposed ‘impractical bans’ on movement of heavy vehicles within Doha. He said that according to government regulations, there is a ban of movement of trucks from 6am-9am; then permission to move is given from 9am-12noon; then ban again between 12 and 3pm; then permission to move again between 3pm and 5pm; and then from 5pm until 10pm there is a ban; and finally from 10pm until 6am there is permission to ply trucks again.“Everyday, my drivers call me up saying ‘Sir what should I do, it is 5pm already; should I move the truck towards the site within the city or risk delaying the deadline?’,” the logistic company owner said.“Now on top of these rules, there are these new government rules to park trucks outside the city, which by the way will increase the diesel costs. It really is proving to be a very difficult task,” he added.Drivers who parked their vehicles near Barwa Village said that their supervisors had told them to move their vehicles there because it was easy to move them back into Doha.Most divers Gulf Times spoke to expressed their ignorance about the ‘world’s’ biggest truck yard in Industrial Area’s Barwa Al Baraha.’When told that this yard was located on Street 52 at the southeastern end of the Industrial Area, one driver said he would quit his job if he was forced to park his truck there everyday. “I already get up at 5am and if I park my vehicle there, I would have to get up at 3am just to reach the yard from my home,” he said.Meanwhile, an official at the Barwa Al Baraha project told Gulf Times that so far there was no show by truckers at the yard. “We are still waiting for trucks to come here in large numbers and utilise the facilities,” he said.