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Dubai: Hundreds of local and international companies are queuing up to brand a station for the Dubai Metro project, Gulf News has learnt.
“We have received requests from companies from around the world as far afield as Japan, Greece, Spain, the UK, the United States, and India, intending to put their names on the Metro stations,” an official from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said.
These companies range from large property and business firms and local and international banks, to multinational blue-chip corporations.
RTA has offered some 23, out of 47 stations, and the Red and the Green lines of the Dubai Metro project for corporate branding as part of its major public-private partnership initiative launched in March for naming rights.
At least eight stations have already been named after companies and financial houses, which funded construction of the respective stations. However, 16 stations will continue to bear the name of landmarks and historical areas.
The naming rights are available for a minimum of 10 years from the start of Metro operation from September 9, 2009.
RTA is currently constructing 74.6km system consisting of the Red and the Green lines at the cost of Dh15.5 billion.
Red line will be operational from September 9, 2009, while the Green line will be ready by March 21, 2010.
Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA, had said that the naming rights project is the world’s first revenue model for public transport infrastructure and the first programme of its kind to help improve transport service with partnership funding raised through a naming rights initiative.
“Each of the 23 stations available for naming will have a unique value, calculated according to its location, anticipated passenger number and other variable factors,” he said.
The Red and Green lines of the Metro are also on sale for the naming project.
According to a senior RTA official, the revenue raised from the project would be reinvested in the Metro expansion project and to ensure the continuous improvement of services for Metro passengers.
“The naming rights will be offered to local and international companies wanting to anchor their association with Dubai,” he said. He said the corporate partners will be able to leverage their naming rights with integrated marketing opportunities at the stations.
“There are clearly ‘ideal’ brands for certain stations and we are very keen to attract a wide interest from homegrown companies and those whose international brands are a big part of life in Dubai,” Abdul Mohsin Ebrahim, CEO for the Strategic and Corporate Governance at RTA, had said.
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