Completion rate in Rashid Hospital Tunnels Project hits 80%: RTA

Completion rate in Rashid Hospital Tunnels Project hits 80%: RTA

The project is set for opening next June

Roads & Transport Authority – Mohammed Al Munji:
The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) announced that 80% of construction works have been completed in Rashid Hospital Tunnels Project and the project, which costs about 722 million dirham, is expected to be fully completed and opened for traffic by 30 June 2013.

Commenting on the project, H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, said: “The construction of Rashid Hospital Tunnels Project is part of a master plan aimed to ease the traffic congestion in the vicinity of Rashid Hospital and step up the traffic flow in the area. Upon the project completion, the capacity of roads within the scope of the project is set to rise to as much as 6000 vehicles per hour.

“The project contractor has completed all infrastructure works related to DEWA, sewage services and Etisalat as well as the construction works in vehicular & pedestrian tunnels, and the electromechanical works in the tunnels,” added Al Tayer.
“The Project comprises the construction of roads and two tunnels, each comprising two lanes, serving the traffic inbound from Tariq bin Ziyad & Umm Harir Streets and heading towards the intersection of Al Al Riyadh Street with the extension of the Floating Bridge. The first tunnel passes from Tariq bin Ziyad Street underneath Al Maktoum Bridge, and the other one; inbound from Umm Harir Street, passes across Oud Metha Park, and the two tunnels merge to form a 4-lane street heading towards Al Riyadh Street via Rashid Hospital. The Project also encompasses converting the junction of Riyadh Street with the Floating Bridge Extension into a 4-lane passageway, widening Tariq bin Ziyad Street, improving Oud Metha & Umm Harir Streets, and constructing a road to handle the traffic inbound from the Floating Bridge and heading towards Tariq bin Ziyad Street," elaborated Al Tayer.

It is note-worthy that the RTA has undertaken several projects in Bur Dubai to eliminate tailbacks and enhance roads capacity to keep pace with the urbanization and traffic growth rates. In this regard the RTA constructed the Floating Bridge, just half a kilometer off Al Maktoum Bridge, which comprises six lanes stretching from the surface intersection near City Center and Dubai Golf Club in Deira and terminates at the intersection to be constructed on Al Riyadh Street. The Project included modifications to improve the efficiency of junctions near Al Riyadh Street where the R/As in the direction of the Creek Park have been converted into signalized junctions. The project also provided an additional lane between Khalid bin Al Waleed Street and Oud Metha on the one hand, and Al Ittihad Street and Deira on the other.

The RTA has also widened Al Maktoum Bridge from 9 to 11 lanes, and the streets in the approaches of the Bridge from two to three lanes to handle the traffic inbound from Umm Harir Street; a step which has increased the vehicular capacity and eased the traffic congestion in the traffic in bound from Sheikh Zayed Road in the direction of Deira. It also improved the capacity of Khalid bin Al Waleed Street and eased the pressure on this vital corridor and ensured seamless traffic flow in the direction of Deira. Improvements and widening of the Bridge works also included increasing the number of lanes in the direction from Deira to Bur Dubai from four to six lanes along the Bridge.

Al Tayer stated that the RTA was following up improvement works in several main roads in Dubai city as part of a series of vital projects being constructed to improve roads and provide advanced services at residential districts to conform to RTA's strategy and the ongoing endeavours to keep pace with the urbanization drive and serve the requirements of growth as well as the demographic expansion in the Emirate.

Captions:

 Work in Rashid Hospital Tunnels Project is progressing according to the approved schedule

Pentominium photos, Dubai Marina ,December 2012

Marina 101 Tower photos, Dubai Marina , December 2012

RTA Traffic Management Team gears up for New Year’s eve

RTA Traffic Management Team gears up for New Year’s eve

Community members urged to use public transit means

Roads & Transport Authority – Abdul Fattah Haidrah & Nashwan Atta’ee:
The Team responsible for Traffic Management and Handling of Operational Plans During Official & Annual Events at the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has put the final touches on a comprehensive plan for managing vehicular traffic on the eve of the New Year; which is poised to witness huge traffic movement, particularly in the vicinity of Burj Khalifa.

Engineer Maitha bin Udai, CEO of RTA Traffic & Roads Agency cum Head of Traffic Management & Handling of Operational Plans During Official & Annual Events Team at the RTA, revealed that the Team has prepared all procedures required to ease the traffic movement in the neighborhood of Burj Khalifa during the New Year celebrations. “The traffic plan in place entails the provision of additional parking spaces, installation of directional signage, 24-hour operation of the metro, deployment of additional & feeder bus service, provision of bus-dedicated lanes, and addressing the needs of taxicabs,” she said.

“We have got in place a fully-fledged and approved plan for managing the traffic on the eve of the New Year, and the team attending to this plan has benefited from the experience of last year. Meanwhile, the RTA is currently in the final stages of constructing internal roads network at the Business Bay Crossing which will offer the public several options to access Sheikh Zayed Road, Al Khail Road and accordingly avoid the anticipated congestion at the Financial Center Road. The team will also cater to providing greater exit corridors for vehicles once events are concluded.

“The team has managed to provide 10,000 additional parking slots near the events venue including 2,000 parking spaces at the Trade Center, and 8,000 parking spaces at Meydan, while deploying shuttle bus service to lift the public to the events venue. 15 members of the Team will be deployed in the surroundings of Burj Khalifa to monitor the implementation of the Plan and carry out necessary modifications in cooperation with the Dubai Police and Emaar Company. The metro will be operating round-the- clock and the number of passengers is expected to hit 132 thousand.
“The traffic signals control rooms will monitor the traffic movement in the area and the Team will direct the traffic as dictated by the density of vehicular traffic at the intersections and streets in the vicinity of Burj Khalifa. The Virtual Messaging Signs will also help direct road users to suitable alternative roads,” added engineer Maitha.

She called on the public to use the metro and public buses rather than private vehicles, particularly during events held in Dubai such as the Eve of the New Year’s festivities. “The plan set by the Team accounts for higher ridership of public transit means and has done what it takes to accommodate additional numbers of potential commuters,” said Maitha in a concluding remark.

For his part, Ahmed Mohammed Al Hammadi, Director of Buses, Public Transport Agency and Head of the Team Responsible for Dealing with Public Transport Systems, Metro and Taxis during Official and Annual Events, said that fare gates of four metro stations will be open for the public without requiring the user to swipe the Nol card on the ticket validation machine provided that the Nol card will be swiped and fares will be deducted on exiting the final station for each user in order to ease off entering the stations near the celebration venue. “So, the Nol card will have to be swiped on fare gates at the time of exiting the stations, which are located within the same faring zone, depending on entering them. Consequently, the fares deduction will be identical to the faring schedule. These stations are: Business Bay, Burj Khalifa Dubai Mall, Financial Center and Emirates Towers,” he explained.
“Three different types of public bus service will be run namely; the metro feeder service, night service and the Park and Ride service to shuttle passengers from the parking areas. Metro feeder buses operate on the following routes: From Burj Khalifa Dubai Mall metro station to Dubai Mall, and the service will run at 3 minutes headway during peak times using standard buses. From the Business Bay metro station to Burj Khalifa Dubai Mall metro stations where passengers can use the Metro Sky Link to access the Dubai Mall at 5 minutes headway during peak time using standard buses as well. From the World Trade Center metro station to Burj Khalifa Dubai Metro Station at 5-minutes headway during peak time also using standard buses.

“The Park and Ride service for shuttling visitors from car parks will run on the following routes: from the parking lot of Meydan to bus parking area at the back of the Dubai Mall at 20 minutes headway during peak time using standard buses, from the World Trade Center parking lot to bus parking area at the back of the Dubai Mall at 10 minutes headway during peak time using standard buses, and from the parking space of Zaabeel Park to the bus parking area at the back of the Dubai Mall at 10 minutes headway during peak time using standard buses,” elaborated Al Hammadi.

About the night bus service, Al Hammadi said: “This service covers the following routes: From the parking space at the back of the Dubai Mall to Ibn Battuta metro station at 10 minutes headway during peak time using standard buses, from the parking space at the back of the Dubai Mall to Rashidiya metro station at 10 minutes headway during peak time using standard buses, and from the parking space at the back of the Dubai Mall to Burjuman metro station / Ghubaiba metro station at 10 minutes headway during peak time using standard buses.

Pier 8 construction photos, Dubai Marina , 14/December/2012

Atlantis, The Palm is the World's Leading Landmark Resort

Atlantis, The Palm is the World's Leading Landmark Resort

Dubai, UAE, 23 December 2012: Atlantis, The Palm is thrilled to have been crowned the ‘World's Leading Landmark Resort’ at the World Travel Awards (WTA) held recently in New Delhi, India.

“We are happy to represent Dubai at these prestigious international awards,” commented Serge Zaalof, President & Managing Director at Atlantis, The Palm. “We feel immense pride at that this iconic resort has been recognized as the ‘World’s Leading Landmark Resort.’”

World Travel Awards exists to recognize, acknowledge and celebrate excellence in travel tourism and hospitality and the categories were voted by travel professionals across the globe. Established 19 years ago, World Travel Awards is committed to raising the standards of customer service and overall business performance throughout the international tourism industry.

The most important decision-makers in the industry attended the VIP ceremony, which was officially supported by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and hosted at The Oberoi, Gurgaon, New Delhi Capital Region, the new business and commercial district of Delhi NCR.

Empower lauds UAE’s launch of new mega-projects in last quarter of 2012

Ahmed Bin Shafar: “Khalifa Port and Sheikh Mohd SME Fund are just two examples of the country’s vision

Dubai, UAE, 22 December 2012: Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the largest district cooling provider in the Middle East, has lauded the UAE’s milestone achievements in the fourth quarter of 2012, exemplified by investments in major projects, including the Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi.

This strategic move is expected to give a major boost to trade and economic sectors in a short period of time across the country according to the company’s CEO.

Ahmed Bin Shafar, CEO, Empower added: “The UAE unveiled a series of mega projects projects in the fourth quarter, especially the Khalifa Port project which consolidates the country’s position in marine trade, logistic services and container transport.”

Bin Shafar added: “Khalifa Port marks the start of another phase in the country's development by diversifying the economy towards value-added services.”

Khalifa Port is equipped with an automated container station supported by a ready electronic system designed to meet the needs of freight and shipping sectors in the UAE.

Another project, Mohammad Bin Rashid SME Fund for supporting SMEs in Dubai, was launched to support around 100 projects for youths annually. The fund aims to provide support to small and medium projects and create a new generation of entrepreneurs to boost the UAE economy.

“SMEs are considered the pillar of any country’s economy as they create new job opportunities and raise competitiveness and boost the dynamism of the economy. In this regard, the UAE is giving close attention to supporting SME sectors,” Bin Shafar said.

“SMEs offers ideal investments opportunities and they are main service providers that large enterprises from government and private sectors outsource from,” he added.

The significance of Mohammad Bin Rashid SME Fund is that it tackles a major hurdle faced by SMEs, which is the lack of funding.

Bin Shafar added: “We invite SMEs to invest in the District Cooling and allied sectors, in order to boost this dynamic sector in the Middle East.”

Pier 8 photos , Dubai Marina, 14/December/2012

My Tower photos, Dubai Marina , 14/December/2012

Infinity Tower photos, Dubai Marina , 14/December/2012