Metro - project of the century: Shaikh Mohammed

The Dubai Metro is the project of the century, declared His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as he toured various prestigious projects in the city on Tuesday.

Shaikh Mohammed, who rode on the Metro from Concourse 3 to the Burj Khalifa, passing through several stations where some of Dubai’s attractions are displayed, expressed his pride at the implementation of the mass transit project.

Earlier, Shaikh Mohammed inspected Emirate’s Airbus A380 Concourse 3, the world’s first dedicated facility at the Dubai International Airport that is home to airliner’s growing fleet of super jumbos. It features dedicated first and business class lounges.

Accompanying the Vice-President during the tour were Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai; Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai; and Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive Emirates airline and Group.

They toured various sections of Concourse 3, which is scheduled to receive its first flight in January 2013. Shaikh Mohammed began his tour with the new Free Market, which includes several malls for retail business spread over a total area of more than 1,200 square metres.

The one-hour visit took Shaikh Mohammed to the designated Airbus 380 gates equipped with load bridges for passengers to move between the aircraft and the terminal, and six other gates dedicated to serving aircraft parked away from the terminal. He also toured the luxury first-class and business lounges, which have been equipped to the latest global standards.

Shaikh Mohammed was briefed by Khalifa Al Zafeen, CEO of Dubai Aviation City, on this huge project and its components. Concourse 3 is 650 metres in length and 90 metres in width and covers a total area of 530,000 metres with 11 storeys, four of them underground. There are automated passenger transport points for arrivals and departures.

Concourse 3 has five-star and four-star hotels, a mall with 40 counters to follow flights and airlines. It also has an internal metro that carries passengers to and from Terminal 3 and Terminal 2. Overall, Concourse 2 and 3 will have a capacity of 43 million passengers annually.

Visitors and residents of many nationalities coming to the UAE through Terminal 3 welcomed Shaikh Mohammed as he toured the arrival hall and inspected work performance on the counters.

His last stop during the Metro trip from Concourse 3 was Burj Khalifa, from whose metro station he and his entourage walked to The Dubai Mall through the 820-metre walkway. Shaikh Mohammed then had coffee at one of the outlets at The Dubai Mall.

Shaikh Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority; Shaikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum; Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy; Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs; Reem Ibrahim Al Hashemi, Minister of State; Shaikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, Lt-General Musabbeh Rashid Al Fattan, Director of the Office of the Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai; Khalifa Saeed Sulaiman, Director-General of the Dubai Protocol and Guests; and Mohammed Juma Al Naboodah also accompanied the Vice-President.