Roads & Transport Authority - News Details

Events of the 3rd MENA Transport Congress & Exhibition 2018 continued for the second day running, where several main, subsidiary and parallel sessions were held. 

HE Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of the Infrastructure Development, UAE, was the keynote speaker during a parallel session reviewing public transport projects in the MENA region. The session was held in Zabeel 4 Hall, Dubai World Trade Center; the premises of the Congress hosted by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai and the UITP featuring huge global participation. 

“Transportation is a key driver of development and has a strategic economic role through the Gross Domestic Product as well as the direct and indirect financial returns. It also has a social role in contributing to the development of cities and creating job opportunities. The development of the transport sector in the UAE has contributed to facilitating the movement, reducing transportation costs & the number of accidents, and completing the modern road network. It also encourages industries based on the needs of the sector such as concrete barriers, steel columns, paints and signs as well as commercial exchange. 

“The development indicators in the transport sector include expenditure on the transport sector during the last five years, the reduction in accidents in the UAE, the percentage of population connected to the road network and the budgets allocated for transport in the five-year plan.

 

“The UAE is striving to be Number One in all international competitiveness standards for roads and infrastructure, having achieved first place in road quality, fourth in quality of infrastructure, fifth in infrastructure and 13th in logistics performance.

The session, which was attended by HE Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, and several officials, revealed mega projects in the MENA region worth $ 106 billion. Participants expressed their anticipations for future investment opportunities in the MENA region including bus and train operators, and other mass transit companies in the region.

Khalid Al-Hogail, President of UITP - MENA, and Managing Director of SAPTCO in Saudi Arabia, who chaired the session, asked: How can we align the political decision with community visions? How can we provide funding for projects? How can we shape the future of our cities to meet the aspirations of our peoples?

"We look with pride and admiration at the experience and achievements of the UAE, especially in the field of roads and transport," he said. "What the UAE provides starts as a dream, then turns into a reality, and later becomes a necessity.@

HE Hisham Arafat, Minister of Transport, Egypt, also spoke during the parallel session about public transportation projects in the MENA and praised the vital role of the UITP in supporting sustainable urban transport. He praised the theme of the Congress: "Pioneering for Customers Happiness", a clear testament to RTA’s efforts to bring happiness to customers as well as Dubai visitors from various parts of the world.

“The UAE government’s keenness to appoint a Minister of State for Happiness illustrates the importance of transforming the concept of happiness from a vision and hope into a reality. Egypt has witnessed unprecedented efforts in recent years to achieve sustainable economic development. The strategies adopted contributed to construction attracting investments in a healthy climate in areas of infrastructure development. The transport projects undertaken bear reference to the strong opportunities in Egypt and the investment climate in specific projects, especially in the railway sector and urban transport in cities.

"Our rail systems currently serve 3 million riders a day, and I hope to transport 10 million riders a day. We have one of the oldest rail and metro networks in the region, but we are working to upgrade it,” he added.

Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister of Transport, Saad Al-Khaleb, said, “The Kingdom's vision includes benefiting from the huge human and natural resources it possesses and renewable energies. A strategic partnership must link the public and private sectors. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia currently hosts about 8 million pilgrims and the plan is to up the capacity to receive 30 million visitors for Hajj and Umrah annually. This warrants the development of ambitious plans of transport networks within and between cities and airports. The King Abdul Aziz Airport receives 16 million passengers annually, and this number will rise to up to 30 million in the future.”

Rumaih Al Rumaih, President of Public Transport Authority in Saudi Arabia, said: "Unfortunately, we build cities and then think about public transport. We are now trying to reconcile the two. We are starting to make public transport gradually grow to meet people's aspirations. We will not be happy unless we succeed in convincing community members to use public buses. We have phased out old buses and brought in new sophisticated ones.

Alwaleed Al-Akrich, Deputy Head of Programs and Projects, and the Supreme Authority for the Development of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, spoke about the transport projects in Riyadh, especially the Riyadh metro project. He noted that the population of Riyadh is approximately 6.5 million, most of them under 30.

Abdul Mohsen Ibrahim Younes, CEO of Rail Agency, RTA, concluded the session by reviewing the key stations of Route 2020. He stated that the organisation of Expo 2020 in Dubai was a strategic event for the whole region, not only the UAE. He added that the event would attract about 25 million visitors during a six months period. It has prompted the RTA to develop a specific strategy for transporting 50% of visitors on public transport means.