Two new Salik gates in Dubai – at the Business Bay Crossing on Al Khail Road and at Al Safa South on Sheikh Zayed Road – will be activated on Sunday, taking the number of tolls in the emirate to 10.
Announced by the Roads and Transport Authority in January, the gates will collect the standard Dh4 every time a vehicle crosses them and will aim to reduce traffic congestion by 12 to 15 per cent in the Business Bay area and by 15 per cent in Al Safa area.
In January, Salik Company – the operator of the toll gates – explained that the locations were chosen following traffic studies to reduce congestion.
“The addition of new toll gates in two increasingly busy locations marks the latest milestone in the growth plan that we set out at the time of Salik’s initial public offering," Ibrahim Al Haddad, chief executive of Salik, said at the time. Mattar Al Tayer, director general of the RTA, added that Dubai's road toll strategy was key to its efforts to reduce traffic.
Al Safa South gate will be linked to the older Safa North gate an, like the Mamzar gates, will only charge a single payment from those crossing both gates within an hour.
In an earlier interview, Mr Al Haddad said it was the first time that Salik gates would be solar-powered, supporting the authority's "sustainable growth agenda" and "commitment to green energy".
He also said that plans were under way to power all Salik gates by solar energy over the next few years.
The Salik chief executive said the toll gates had "contributed to reducing the total travel time across the emirate by approximately 6 million hours annually and increased the number of public transport users by about 9 million passengers annually”.
During its IPO announcement in 2022, Salik had hinted at plans to introduce “dynamic pricing”, which varies depending on the time of the day. “The Roads and Transport Authority could implement dynamic pricing through optimising the toll rates depending on the time of the day, for example, by charging a higher toll fee for specific lanes or during peak hours," the IPO announcement read.
It said that the system would be based on similar models used in other cities, such as Dallas and Stockholm.
In a series of social media posts, Salik said the new gates will improve accessibility to areas such as Jumeirah, Downtown Dubai, Dubai Water Canal and Al Safa, among others.
Why Dubai introduced toll gates?
The Salik system was introduced in 2007 to ease traffic congestion, raise state revenue and encourage residents to use public transport. The first two gates came up in Gharoud and Barsha, with Safa and Maktoum bridge gates added a year later. In 2013, three gates were introduced at Airport tunnel, and two at Mamzar – south and north. In 2018, the Jebel Ali gate was introduced.
Motorists are charged Dh4 to pass through each gate, with the amount deducted automatically from tags fixed to vehicle windscreens. The tags can be purchased online or at service stations, and topped up online or through recharge cards.
The toll gates:
- Al Barsha
- Al Garhoud
- Al Maktoum
- Al Mamzar South
- Al Mamzar North
- Al Safa
- Al Safa (South)
- Airport Tunnel
- Jebel Ali
- Business Bay
Penalties
Every vehicle must have a Salik tag, with new vehicle owners given a 10-day grace period to install and activate one.
Passing through Salik gates without a tag will incur a fine of Dh100 for the first offence, Dh200 for the second offence and Dh400 every time after that.
There’s currently no daily cap on Salik, with every gate charging a fee of Dh4 every single time a vehicle passes through.
Maktoum bridge closure
Al Maktoum bridge in Dubai, where one of the 10 Salik gates is positioned, will remain closed for long durations until January 16, 2025, the RTA previously announced. It will be closed between 11pm and 5am on Monday to Saturday and all day on Sunday during this period. First opened in 1963, it connects travel between Bur Dubai and Deira.
The bridge's toll gate does not charge motorists on Sundays and is free to travel through from 10pm to 6am daily. During the partial closure for the next two months, the RTA has urged drivers to take alternative routes.
If going from Deira to Bur Dubai:
- Al Shindagha Tunnel through Baniyas Road and Al Khaleej Street
- Infinity Bridge through Baniyas Road, Al Khaleej Street and Corniche Street
- Business Bay Crossing Bridge through Baniyas Road, Sheikh Rashid Road and Rebat Street
- Al Garhoud Bridge through Baniyas Road and Sheikh Rashid Road
If travelling from Bur Dubai to Deira:
- Al Garhoud Bridge through Oud Metha Road and Sheikh Rashid Road
- Infinity Bridge or Al Shindagha Tunnel through Tariq Bin Ziyad Road, Khalid Bin Al Waleed Road and Al Khaleej Street
- Business Bay Crossing Bridge through Oud Metha Road and Al Khail Road Dubai
If you go
Flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.
The stay
Rooms at Alila Villas Koh Russey (www.alilahotels.com/ kohrussey) cost from $385 per night including taxes.
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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