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28 March 2024

RTA: More than 35 mega projects in the pipeline

Mattar Al Tayer, Executive Director of the RTA, at the International Trade Fair for Transport Technology (InnoTrans 2014) taking place in Berlin.

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By Staff

More than 35 mega projects are in the pipeline in the future plan of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), announced Mattar Al Tayer, Executive Director of the RTA at the International Trade Fair for Transport Technology (InnoTrans 2014) taking place in Berlin.

“The RTA will design and undertake transportation projects necessary for Expo 2020 including the extension of the Red Line of the Dubai Metro, upgrading roads and junctions surrounding and leading to Expo site, and sourcing 39 additional trains up to 2020 in order to improve passenger services.

“The RTA is also planning to expand the bus network to cover 16 new districts, besides improving the service in 19 districts by 2020,” he explained,” he explained.

Al Tayer further revealed that the Government of Dubai, led by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, had spent about 73 billion dirham to upgrade the transportation infrastructure in Dubai since 2005.

“The RTA has constructed the 75 km-long Dubai Metro comprising 47 stations, which is considered the longest driverless metro line worldwide.

“It also widened the roads network from 8,715 lane-kilometer in 2005 to 12,545 lane-kilometer in 2013 i.e. a 45% increase. Besides that the RTA has procured a modern fleet of public buses and revamped the marine transit means.

“Accordingly, the number of mass transit users soared from 112 million riders in 2005 to 446 million riders in 2013 i.e. a 300% increase, thus the share of public transport means in the people’s mobility increased from 6% in 2006 to 13% by the end of last year.

He further dwelled on the upcoming Dubai Tram project, which is scheduled to be launched on 11 November this year, extending 10 km and covering 11 stations.

“The tram is expected to lift about 27 thousand riders per day in 2014, and the ridership is anticipated to grow to as much as 66 thousand riders per day by 2020. Phase 2 and 3 of the Tram project are currently under study,” added Al Tayer.

He also shed light on the transition towards electronic and smart services, saying at least 200 smart services would be launched via smart phones by the end of 2015, and the Nol card, through which the RTA has processed about two billion transactions through 9 million cards issued since the start of the metro operations on 9/9/2009.

“The public transportation is the backbone of any city as the population cannot move around smoothly without a convenient and safe transportation system. Therefore most governments in various parts of the globe currently attend to qualifying and uplifting their transportation infrastructure. The investment in the infrastructure is the key driver of the economy, investment and tourism in any city; which is why we notice that countries that haven’t taken early action towards uplifting their transportation infrastructure are experiencing huge difficulties that reflect negatively on their economies,” stated Al Tayer.