Sharjah road rules lead to midnight trucks

Sharjah's roads require some firms to haul machinery in the middle of the night

Trucks can now use a part of Al Wadah Road, a main thoroughfare through Sharjah which has been closed for the last year while redevelopment works are carried out, but the emirate still remains an anathema for most, truck operators say.

Firstly, an update in truck timings mean that heavy vehicles are not allowed on the Ring Road from the Industrial Square 5 to Waset Square station from 5:30am to 12 midnight.

The trucks can now begin using the roads on which they were earlier banned from 5:30am to 9:30am.

Story continues below

Advertisement

FEATURED COMMENT Please click here to comment on this article

Confusingly, trucks are also banned three times a day from Al Badayeh intersection to the Fifth Industrial Square from 5:30am to 9:30am, 1pm to 3pm and from 5:30pm to 9:30pm.

Meanwhile, a spate of blackouts throughout September, due to an overloaded grid has wrecked havoc among businesses.

Mohammad Majeed of TSSSC Machinery said: “Yes, the new timings are something of a problem – the real issue is that the roads just were not built for this kind of haulage.” On the subject of the power cuts he said “Obviously, this wasn’t ideal in the height of summer.”

Mr. R Menon plant manager from German Gulf Engineering concurred with this. “We are actually moving our lowbeds after midnight at the moment” he said. “The truck timings are very confusing – and even when the road is available, it is jammed.” He added that his offices kept three gensets on standby, as the power grid was still ‘not quite stable’.