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Dubai Smile to replace Floating Bridge

The seventh crossing over Dubai Creek called ‘Dubai Smile’, the bridge that will replace the Floating Bridge, will open for traffic in the middle of 2013, Khaleej Times has learnt.

The crossing, which links the emirate’s two flanks, lies near Dubai Creek Park, Wonderland and Dubai Courts on the Bur Dubai side and Deira City centre and Dubai Golf club on the Deira side.

The structure, which will have a majestic design, is estimated to cost Dh810 million.

The Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai (RTA) gives top priority, along with other projects, to the seventh crossing which will be built and opened for traffic next year, said an official source.

The tender for the Dubai Smile project will be invited after the competition of the Rashid Hospital Tunnels Project, which costs an estimated Dh705 million. Eighty per cent of the tunnel project has been completed.

The work on the Dubai Smile bridge is expected to be completed by mid-2013, the official said.

The RTA official, however, did not reveal the sources of funding for the project, but said it is determined to carry it out either through government finance or with private participation after the Dubai Executive Council approves a law streamlining the process and the partnership between the authority and the entities with which contracts are signed to carry out many projects the authority is planning to execute.

As per a proposal, the executing companies will get their revenues generated through the advertisement billboards which will be installed either along the bridge or on Salik Toll Gates. It will be determined according to the agreements due to be signed.

Meanwhile, the RTA is expecting a whopping Dh3.6 billion in total revenues, include the revenues generated from fixed resources like Salik, licensing, paid car parks, developers’ shares, franchise rights on the use of taxi number plates, luxury transport, fees for use of metro and public transport buses.

malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com