Dubai: Dubai's Parkin is well placed to expand and provide its services to the city's shopping malls and other destinations, top officials announced on Tuesday.
Parkin, which will be listing on Dubai Financial Market, said it is targeting privately-owned developments as a definite part of its expansion plans.
Parkin’s CEO Mohammed Al Ali said, “If an expansion (into shopping malls) is feasible for us to operate, for sure we can expand into that. As a company, we control around 91 per cent of Dubai’s parking operations. So that is an opportunity.”
* Free cash flow to equity, subject to distributable reserves requirements
The dividend policy is still under consideration by the Board of Directors, after taking into account the cash management requirements of the company. Whether that’s on operating expenses, finance costs and anticipated capital expenditures and investments.
“The company expects that the Board will also consider market conditions, the then current operating environment in the company’s markets, and the outlook for the business and growth opportunities,” said a statement.
Parkin intends to pay a semi-annual dividend - in April and October - with a first payment expected in October 2024.
Parkin’s Chairman Ahmed Hashem Bahrozyan clarified that the decision to charge for parking in shopping malls remains with the malls itself. “We need to make clear that at the end of the day, if malls want to charge (for parking) or remain free, it is the decision of the mall itself.
“We can compete for the malls and other developer parking. We have an end-to-end solution with over 30 years of experience (in this area). But we are planning to expand to properties and private developments as part of our expansion plans."
Late last year, Salik announced it would design, finance, develop, install and manage a new parking system at The Dubai Mall.
Al Ali said collaborations with private developers will be based on the 49-year concession agreement Parkin has with Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
Parkin is currently managing 197,000 paid parking spaces in the Emirate. The company has a 100 per cent share of Dubai’s on-street and off-street paid public parking marketing and a 91 per cent share of Dubai’s on-and off-street paid parking market.
Will the parking tariff change?
Bahrozyan clarified that the decision on tariff for parking will remain with the RTA. “Based on the concession agreement, the decision on tariff changes would remain with RTA. This is very important because such decisions are never taken in isolation.”
“With our experience, we can make recommendations for tariffs, whether public parking or even with developers. But our main focus will remain customer experience and technology behind the service.”
Parking for EVs
Al Ali said the company is incorporating AI-built tools that estimate parking availability, including special categories such as for EVs and for people of determination. Al Ali said: “All our parking machines are 100 per cent solar. We have several EV charging bays that are free to use for our customers, and we have major expansion plans on this front.”
