By Alia Al Theeb, Deputy UAE Editor www.gulfnews.com
Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said he will use the Dubai Metro and now the challenge, after the launch of the Metro, is how to really persuade the UAE people to travel on the train.
Shaikh Mohammad conveyed his message through a video he posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
He had increased the multimedia presence on his public Facebook page by uploading a link to a video of his visit to the Ministries of Social Affairs and Labour earlier.
Talking to his fans on Facebook, Shaikh Mohammad wrote: “I’d like to share with you the Dubai Metro Launch video.”
The video is three minutes, fifty-five seconds long and includes clips of the official opening ceremony at Mall of the Emirates Station, clips from the train moving around the city and clips of Shaikh Mohammad inside the first train along with Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and other dignitaries and officials.
While aboard the train, Shaikh Mohammad expressed his happiness about the Metro launch and described it as a “great occasion”.
“I am very happy, it is a great occasion. It is like flying the first Emirates Airlines. Something great. This is international because how many engineers and from where [worked on the project] from Japan, United States, South America, Europe, Australia and locals. They all worked together and they have done it.”
Shaikh Mohammad further said: “Dubai is Dubai and always Dubai, but this is great to come and to open the Metro in the Middle East, and it is the longest and a very new one.
“And now our challenge is how to really persuade the UAE people to travel on this train. They will take time but this is there.
“Foreigners will travel on it, I will travel, but it will take time to make UAE citizens travel on the train.”
Shaikh Mohammad’s video of the Metro launch has already received 600 comments from his fans, mostly congratulating him on the launch and commanding Dubai for this milestone.
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