At least 12 Dubai metro stations are still available for firms interested to name them after their brands, a senior official said.
The Gulf News daily quotes Zayed Abbas, Investment and Business Development Manager at the RTA saying: “Although we are negotiating with a number of companies for the naming rights of 12 stations, interesting companies still have the chance to put their names on these stations provided they qualify.”
The RTA launched a public-private partnership initiative for naming rights last year, offering around 22 out of the 47 stations on the Red and the Green lines of the Dubai Metro project for corporate branding.
“The stations will be named after the brand names of the companies. However, the outlets in the stations and advertising are being sold separately,” Abbas told the newspaper.
“We have so far finalised deals worth AED1.8bn ($490m) for the 10 stations while deals are underway for rest of the stations.”
The RTA expects to raise AED3bn ($817m) from the naming rights.
According to Gulf News, two major underground stations – each in Deira and Bur Dubai (Burjuman) – where the Red and the Green Lines meet are among the stations still available. The naming rights are available for a minimum of 10 years from the start of Metro operation from Sept 9, 2009, it added.
The metro is one of Dubai’s flagship projects and will stand on the same footing as other landmark developments such as Burj Al Arab, Burj Dubai, The Palm and The World, the RTA added.
by Neeraj Gangal , 15 May 2009, www.arabianbusiness.com  Â
