By Elizabeth Broomhall www.arabianbusiness.com
Dubai’s transport agency has no plans to push back the completion date for the city’s Al Sufouh tram, despite a construction slowdown on the project caused by funding woes, an official said.
The 14km tram has seen building work slow after the emirate’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA’s) struggled to meet the project’s payment schedule.
“As per my information the project is ongoing and will finish as scheduled,” said Abdullah Yousef Al Ali, director of the RTA’s commercial and investment department.
He declined to comment on funding difficulties, but said no agreed transport projects in the emirate would be cancelled because of payment concerns.
“We have postponed some projects, but there are no projects which have been approved and cancelled,” he said. “[With some projects] we don’t have enough people who are going to use them, so we have decided to postpone.”
Designed to stretch 14km along Al Sufouh Road, Dubai’s new tram is set to be the world’s first to run with ground power feeding the entire line, eliminating the need for overhead wires.
The first phase of the project will span 10.7km and cost AED4bn, the RTA said in April, and will see 13 of the network’s 19 stations open to the public.
On completion, the tram will link with the Dubai Metro at three stations along Sheikh Zayed Road and will also tie-up with the monorail on the Palm Jumeirah. Authorities say the line will include 25 vehicles each capable of carrying 400 passengers. More info
By Elizabeth Broomhall Monday
