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Dubai: Cityscape 2008, the five-day real estate extravaganza that ended on Thursday at the World Trade Centre in Dubai, was marred only by near-stationary traffic, a dire lack of parking and a shortage of taxis, many visitors said.
During the event, visitors were forced to park kilometres from the venue after circling in heavy traffic in search of that ever-elusive parking place.
Some anticipated the gridlock and opted to take taxis to the Trade Centre. But their solution proved short-lived as they struggled to find taxis to return to their hotels or elswhere.
"On Tuesday, it was terrible. I waited for a taxi for over an hour," said Bode Adediji, group executive chairman of a Nigeria-based developer.
"Today it's much better. I have only been waiting for 20 minutes," he said as he waited at the taxi point about a kilometre from the venue. The winding queue increased in length on the final day of the event yesterday.
"It's a problem getting a taxi. Today I am waiting for only 35 minutes. Yesterday, I waited for two hours. Then I walked to Shaikh Zayed Road but did not find one there either. I ended up walking and taking lifts from people. The first day was even worse," said Pratap Mohan, a visitor.
"It [Cityscape] was well organised but it's just the taxis. It's not just during Cityscape. Dubai needs to double its fleet of taxis."
Another visitor said that due to the difficulty of finding parking, she opted to take a taxi but ended up waiting over an hour in the heat. "It would have been better looking for parking for an hour with the AC on," she said.
Pablo Leppe, a Hong Kong-based architect, said the traffic and lack of taxis were problematic, especially in the intense heat.
Cityscape Dubai managing director Rohan Marwaha said organisers were aware that the problem would arise and had made arrangements prior to the commencement of the exhibition.
This included shuttle buses to a designated taxi stop and VIP cars.
"But unfortunately we became victims of our own success," he said, referring to the unanticipated increase in the number of guests flocking to the event.
"We can only work with the infrastructure available to us. We knew it would be an issue. It's not just during this event that these problems arise," he said.
An estimated 60,000 visitors were anticipated at the event, but according to Marwaha between 70,000 and 80,000 turned up.
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