DUBAI METRO COUNSTRUCTION

Planning of the Dubai Metro began under the directive of Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who expected other projects to attract 15 million visitors to Dubai by 2010. The combination of a rapidly-growing population (expected to reach 3 million by 2017) and severe traffic congestion necessitated the building of an urban rail system to provide additional public transportation capacity, relieve motor traffic, and provide infrastructure for additional development.

In May 2005 a AED 12.45 billion/US$ 3.4 billion design and build contract was awarded to the Dubai Rail Link (DURL) consortium made up of Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, Obayashi Corporation, Kajima Corporation and Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi.[6] The first phase (worth AED 15.5 billion/US$ 4.2 billion) covers 35 kilometres (22 mi) of the proposed network, including the Red Line between Al Rashidiya and the Jebel Ali Free Zone set for completion by September 2009 [7]and the Green Line from Al Qusais 2 to Al Jaddaf 1. This is to be completed by June 2010.[8] A second phase contract was subsequently signed in July 2006 and includes extensions to the initial routes. The Red Line will partially open on 9 September 2009 though according to an RTA official some of the stations will not open due to delays of the project. The construction cost of the Dubai Metro project has shot up by about 80 per cent from the original AED 15.5 billion/US$ 4.2 billion to AED 28 billion/US$ 7.6 billion. The authorities said the cost of the project did not overshoot. They attributed the increase in expenditure to the major changes in the scope and design of the project. The authorities also expects to generate AED 18 billion/US$ 4.9 billion in income over the next 10 years. But they speculate that the Metro would not be a profit-making enterprise since the fares would be subsidised.

Work officially commenced on the construction of the metro on March 21, 2006.[9] Still in February 2009, a top RTA Rail Agency official said "The $4.2 billion Dubai Metro project would be completed on schedule despite global crisis,"[10] however, two weeks before the planned opening the RTA had to admit that only 10 out of 29 metro station of the red line will be ready to open in time and the project plan slipped embarrassingly