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Transport services in city ‘to be privatised’

He made the remarks while opening Smart Move in Dubai, the Middle East public transport event, which commenced yesterday and will conclude tomorrow.

Mattar Al Tayer noted that the municipality would welcome in this regard private firms that are specialised in offering mass transit services to the public. He said Dubai has witnessed an economic and construction boom, accompanied by a record growth in population and in the number of vehicles. This has necessitated a review of the current transportation policies; adoption of comprehensive strategic planning methods with a focus on various engineering solutions; introduction of state-of-the-art traffic technology, encouraging reliance on mass transit; and application of traffic policies and procedures that help achieve the desired objectives.

According to Mattar Al Tayer, the municipality is currently implementing several ambitious projects in this regard, including a 1.5km-long tunnel under the Dubai International Airport which would be the largest and widest of its kind in the Middle East, the constructing a third bridge over the Dubai Creek in addition to a series of bridges and interchanges. In the field of traffic technology, the road network and the interchanges are currently managed through a central automated system using the latest technology in this field. Besides, the municipality’s projects in this area include the Intelligent Transportation Systems, the Dynamic Navigation System and the Variable Traffic Signals. These systems are expected to be fully operational by December 2005.

“In the field of mass transit, there is a deep understanding of the need to encourage use of public transport as a means to reduce the traffic congestion in the city. In this regard, the government has decided to start the Dubai Light Rail Project, which is currently in its final design stage. The project’s construction, which is expected to begin in May 2005, will be undertaken by a consortium of contracting companies,” he said.

He noted that the project would be undertaken in two phases with a total length of 70 km and the first phase is expected to be operational by September 2009. The second phase would be over by September 2012 and the total cost is Dh14 billion.

The DM official also inaugurated an exhibition that features bus and component suppliers, railway and metro suppliers, consultants, infrastructure providers, fare collection systems, signalling and traffic controlling systems, telecoms, rolling stock and track maintenance, contractors and civil designers and engineers.

During the event, Nasser Saeed, General Coordinator for Dubai Light Rail Project and Director of Roads Department at Dubai Municipality, made a presentation on the “Dubai’s New Rail Project Implementation: Challenges and Lessons Learned”. He was assisted by Dr Abdelgader Elshabani, Member of Dubai Rail Project Team and Transportation Planning Specialist at Dubai Municipality.

• UAE