The Sharjah Municipality has decided to compensate residents who bought long-term parking subscriptions before the announcement of three-month free parking initiative, which started on April 1. All such long-term subscribers will get additional three months of free subscription after the expiry date.
The municipality is also providing establishments and facilities free parking space for three months, as coronavirus pandemic continues to impact every sphere of life.
Thabit Al-Tarifi, director-general of Sharjah Municipality, said that the civic body has started implementing a number of decisions of the Executive Council to give stimulus to investment, support the economy and help all members of the society.
Parking compensation
Al Tarifi confirmed that the customer service sector has implemented the decision related to parking compensation, as the public has been exempted from paying public parking fees for a period of three months. The permit to allocate a special parking space for establishments and commercial stores, which ends with the period from March 15 and March 31, will be dealt with in two ways. The first will be to cancel the permit if the customer desires to without any additional fees being charged, and the second will be to renew and pay the fees due for a full year if the customer wishes to do so without accounting from April 1 to June 30, and parking subscriptions. Customers whose subscriptions end on or after July 1 will get an extension of three additional months from the expiry date.
Municipality nod not required to renew licence
Al Tarifi explained that the municipality has decided that the civic body's approval won't be required for renewal of contractors' and consultants' licences, which have expired, for a period of three months starting April 1. "Now the licence can be renewed directly by the Department of Economic Development and the municipality has also exempted new companies from classification fees," he added.
Fitness certification suspended, renewal fees exempted
He indicated that the public health sector and the central laboratories will also implement the decision to postpone the renewal of the occupational health card for workers in facilities supervised by the municipality. Medical examination at the clinics to issue such cards to workers will be stopped. The employees, whose cards expire, will not be held accountable or responsible for violation during the inspection visits, and they will be exempted from the fees of renewing the cards by the Public Health Clinic department, he pointed out.
Free sewage service
The director-general pointed out that the agriculture and environment sector has activated the service of pumping out sewage water from the residential areas without any fees. The service will be provided within five working days from the date of submission of the application through the municipality's website. The free service will be offered once every week for each residence.
Hotels not to pay fees
The civic body will also exempt hotel establishments from paying the municipality fees of five per cent for a period of three months from April 1. The financial administration has been instructed to amend the work system to not calculate the tax and avoid fines for fees that are collected monthly at a rate 10 per cent. The fees of March will be collected considering the exemption decision includes the months of April, May and June.
The municipality chief stressed that the civic body exempts the private sector from renewing their municipal-related permits for three months. But they must comply with all specifications and standards approved by the municipality and the civic body will tighten supervision and conduct periodic follow-ups to ensure that all these terms and conditions have been followed, he underlined.
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