Doha is facing a shortage of petrol stations, on account of continuing closures of privately-run facilities, causing substantial inconvenience to motorists.
"The result is serpentine queues at the other petrol stations, often spilling over on to nearby roads and longer waiting time to fill up," a Doha resident told Gulf Times, echoing the sentiments of a vast number of motorists.
Several motorists have suggested that introducing mobile petrol stations can bring relief to the situation.
"There are many closed petrol stations inside the city. If mobile petrol stations are brought to these locations, the situation could be improved drastically. Nowadays, the wait at the petrol stations, is a painfully time-consuming affair, especially at the peak hours," lamented a motorist.
Though Woqod opened a new station on the B Ring Road some months ago, more such facilities are needed at many other locations inside Doha to alleviate the hardships of motorists, it is felt.
The privately-run fuel facility that closed most recently in Doha was the Doha Petrol Centre on the Najma side of the C Ring Road. "Now, there is no petrol station on the nearly 4.5km stretch between Toyota signals and the Hamad General Hospital," a motorist said.
Though at least six petrol stations closed in Fariq Abdul Azeez, Al Hilal, Najma, Al Mansoura, Old Salata, New Salata and Muntaza in the last few years, new stations have come up only in Al Hilal and Al Mansoura.
Residents feel it is unwise to close so many privately-run petrol stations before opening adequate number of new outlets.
Owing to the closure of the petrol stations in other areas, there is a significant rise in the queues at the lone station on the E-Ring Road between the Mall and Al Thumama signals.
On the D Ring Road, on the stretch from the Old Doha International Airport towards the Shamal Expressway, there is not even a single petrol station on either side for at least 10km. "The first petrol stations on this road are only after Lulu Gharrafa," a motorist pointed out.
The country had only fewer than 600,000 residents in 2002 and fewer vehicles compared to the huge growth in the number of vehicles and population of late. Now the country has a little more than 2.5mnresidents.
The total number of registered vehicles in Qatar had stood at 876,039 in 2012, according to official statistics, an average addition of 5,138 per month. But the number of vehicles exceeded 1mn towards the end of September 2013, the monthly average growth more than doubling compared to the previous year.
