In 2020, Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) managed to attract foreign investments in infrastructure and services developments projects, through PPP models; Build, Operate, Finance (BOFT), with several global firms from the USA and Europe exceeding Dhs1 billion. Examples of these projects include the air-conditioned bus shelters, and Union 71 Project.
‘’RTA is making renewed efforts to develop a comprehensive structure for promoting strategic relationships with the private sector and improving the organisational environment to support long-term public-public partnerships. In particular, these efforts are focused on enticing international partners and foreign investments in the transport sector. To realise these objectives, RTA started on developing smart and innovative solutions for new partnerships in investment and funding transport projects,’’ said Ibrahim Al Haddad, Director of Commercial and Investment, Strategy and Corporate Governance Sector.
He added,”RTA is making relentless efforts to promote its investment relationships with the private sector and realign it with our leaders launch of the ‘Invest in Dubai’ platform, a standard digital platform for establishing a business. It offers a unique experience for practising business in a style befitting smart Dubai. It promises to be the biggest unified platform enabling investors to obtain commercial licenses and start a smooth running of a business in minutes.”
Al Haddad continued,”RTA played a key role in implementing the vision of our government and mapped out plans to attract global businesses in the fields of innovation, 4th industrial revolution technologies and infrastructure. Through these efforts, we aim to develop a digital investment front to leverage the transport sector, support the economy, and enhance the competitiveness of RTA’s services.”
He added, “The digital front we are planning to launch in the second half of 2021 will seek to attract foreign investments and promote partnership. It will offer an opportunity for the private sector to share ideas and innovative projects. Thus, it will contribute to anticipating future needs of partners, building sustainable partnerships, and creating attractive investment prospects,” he noted.
Al Haddad concluded, “RTA’s focus on promoting partnerships with the private sector stems from the vision and directives of our leaders to broaden the prospects of sustainable cooperation. It requires the development of simple and resilient procedures, and opening interactive communication channels with investors. The overall objective of these efforts is to motivate the business sector and foster sustainable investments for achieving RTA’s strategic goals.”
Dubai transport regulator announced recently that nearly 346 million riders have used public transport means in Dubai comprising the metro, tram, buses and marine transport (abra, ferry, water taxi and water bus), e-hail rides, smart rental vehicles and taxis (Dubai Taxi and franchise companies) in 2020, that is about 947,000 riders per day.
This ridership level was achieved despite the global challenges forced by the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in ceasing or cutting public transit services in various countries worldwide, especially during the second half of 2020. It also comes at a time that saw the implementation of precautionary measures such as sanitisation and physical distancing to maintain the safety of riders and staffs in all public transit means.
The RTA’s statistics indicate that Dubai Metro riders (Red and Green Lines) served 113.63 million riders in 2020 (74.455 million for the Red Line and 39.172 million riders for the Green Line). Dubai Tram served 3.65 million riders, public buses lifted 95.41 million riders and marine transit means ferried 8.05 million riders. Shared transport means, such as e-hail and smart rental vehicles lifted 15.29 million riders, and taxis (Dubai Taxi and franchise companies) served 109.94 million riders.
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority also announced recently that it has processed 2.1 million transactions relating to drivers licencing in 2020. About 72 per cent (i.e. more than 1.5 million) of those transactions were processed via smart channels.
The digitisation of licencing processes at the Licensing Agency contributed effectively to easing the flow of transactions and saving the time and effort of clients.
“In 2020, RTA processed 105,653 applications for driver licenses and issued 86,998 driving licences. Driver license renewal transactions clocked 205,203, and driving tests reached 551,147. Additionally, the number of theoretical and practical training hours conducted by the Agency amounted to 2.7 million hours,” said Abdulla Yousef Al Ali, CEO of Licensing Agency, RTA.
