Dubai World signs strategic partnership agreement with RTA

The agreement was signed for Dubai World by H.E. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman & Executive President, and for RTA by H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director.

The signing of the agreement was attended from Dubai World by Mr. Kris O'Donnell, Executive Director of Nakheel, engineer Adnan Al Naqqi, Executive Director of The Palm Deira, and Abdullah Sultan bin Sulayem, CEO of Operations, The Palm Deira. From the RTA attended Abdul Mohsin Ibrahim, CEO of Strategy & Corporate Governance, Dr. Aysha Al Busmait, Director of Marketing & Corporate Communication Dep't, engineer Naser Bu Shehab, Director of Strategic Planning Dep't, and a number of Departmental Directors and managers from both sides.

The agreement called for intensifying efforts to realize the vision of the Government of Dubai in making Dubai a financial, business and tourism hub in the region. This is envisaged to be achieved through materializing the vision of the two parties to gain customer satisfaction, realizing mutual benefit through developing a framework and perimeters in bilateral relationship, as well as putting combined efforts to improve operational performance, simplify procedures, upgrade customer services and sustain mutual communication and interaction to achieve their joint interests; which would ultimately contribute to the interest of the emirate of Dubai.

The agreement also provided for exchange of knowhow, expertise and corporate experiments at all levels, in addition to exchange of information & studies of relevance to the jurisdiction & business of both parties.

According to the agreement, the organizational units of Dubai World and the RTA may enter in joint agreements to enhance the concept of the existing partnership and put them into effect, as agreed to between the two parties.

H.E. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem hailed the existing cooperation between Dubai World and the RTA; which is viewed as an integral part of the strategic drive of the Government of Dubai to realize its vision and achieve its future expectations.

"Through its specialized businesses in the field of construction, Dubai World is undertaking several massive property development projects such as Nakheel projects and The World; which will be populated by large numbers of inhabitants who will need extensive roads network, and different modes of transport such as tram & marine transport.

Moreover, these transport modes have to be linked with the highly developed transit system currently being implemented by the RTA, particularly Dubai Metro Project, marine transport modes and others. RTA, which is catering for roads and transport tasks in the emirate, has the sufficient expertise to develop the infrastructure of transport sector," said bin Sulayem.

He added that Dubai World is working on furthering the joint cooperation with the RTA in a manner that will serve the drive of the RTA, and provide convenient and easy access to the inhabitants of various Nakheel projects. He particularly singled out The Palm Deira; which is one of the giant urban projects in the emirate spanning an area of 48 million square meters (4800 hectare) covering 9 neighbouring islands poised to be inhabited by 1.3 persons.

H.E. Mattar Al Tayer expressed his delight over signing the Partnership Agreement, which will add a further dimension to the mutual business of the two parties and illustrate the extent of cooperation & integration between the public & private sector.

"According to the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and in conjunction with Nakheel, RTA set up a higher committee to attend to development of roads & transport system in The Palm Deira. The Committee is chaired by the Chairman of the Board & Executive Director of the RTA, with members from senior officials at the RTA and Nakheel.

The Committee is vested with the authority of taking strategic decisions with regard to the general policy of transportation and planning, capable of shaping the quality & quantity of roads and mass transit system required for The Palm Deira. Such aspects cover population density, demographic structures, and the overall percentage of land use allocation in the project. It also formulates policies necessary for increasing the percentage of trips served by mass transit modes, decides on the various suggested alternatives suggested for roads & transport systems, and assesses respective costs of roads & mass transit alternatives through applying cost-benefit analysis criteria" said Al Tayer.

H.E. Al Tayer praised the cooperation extended to RTA employees by Dubai World staff, and thanked H.E. Sultan bin Sulayem, Chairman & Executive President of Dubai World for the huge support rendered to the Higher Committee for developing Roads & Transport System at The Palm Deira. "RTA will not back from lending support to various entities in the emirate, and working out some sort of corporate partnership to ensure sustainable business and explore means of sorting pending matters to clear the way for achieving our cherished targets," added Al Tayer in a concluding remark.