Fuad Sharaf, the Vice President of Mall of the Emirates, said there has been an increase in the number of customers at Mall of the Emirates and City Centre since the Metro began operating but rents  of the retail stores will not be going up.

“It is not sufficient enough to start making estimates based on one month of the Metro’s operation – we need to be reassured that this is not a faze and numbers will continue to increase,” said Sharaf.  Sharaf said there are signed contracts with the retailers at both malls and some of them expand in a period of over three years.

“Even retailers whose contracts are to expire in the coming few months are not going to be subjected to an extra payment based on the installation of the Metro.” Dubai needs to develop a train riding culture, where passengers are accustomed to using the Metro as their primary source of transport, said Sharaf.

ibrahim@khaleejtimes.ae