JEDDAH: A multinational company is bringing a new system to Saudi Arabia that enables 16 cars to park on 30 squares meters, the same space as two normal size parking bays.

The system is now being brought to Jeddah and Makkah. The project is the first of its kind in the Kingdom, according to the director of the Smart Parking Company Ahmad Manshi.

Speaking to an online publication, he said that the Kingdom faces the problem of having 15 million cars parked on its streets and in parking areas. The new system would radically reduce the space taken up by this number of vehicles.

The system is a type of upright carousel that is installed in four days, according to a video of the company posted on YouTube. Manshi said the system has been approved by the Saudi Standards, Quality and Metrology Organization.

Nabil Abbas, a member of the Saudi Council of Engineers called on government bodies to adopt this new technology because it can save time and space. “The average ground area parking is 13.75 square meters without the additional entrances and side spaces to allow a car to move.

“We need an area of 233.75 square meters to park 17 million vehicles, an estimated area of three countries, the Maldives, Monaco and the Vatican,” said Abbas. It would help prevent congestion and illegal parking, he said.