Salik IPO in Dubai: 10 facts you should know about the road toll operator

After blockbuster IPOs such as DEWA and Tecom, it’s now the turn of Dubai’s road toll operator to list its shares on the bourses. Salik Company PJSC will be offering 20 per cent shares, it announced on Monday, and the shares are expected to be listed on September 29. Here are some interesting things you probably didn’t know about Salik:

Salik means “open” or “clear” in Arabic

The Salik toll was launched by the RTA on July 1, 2007. Two gates were launched, one near Al Garhoud Bridge and one at Al Barsha.

In September 2008, two more gates were installed – on Maktoum Bridge and at Al Safa

Three gates were activated in April 2013 – two on either side of Al Mamzar intersection on Al Ittihad Road, and one at Airport Tunnel.

The Jebel Ali gate was added in October 2018.

Salik also features the world’s widest open road tolling zone at 40.3 metres spanning seven open road tolls in a single direction

As of April 30, 2022, Salik had 3.6 million registered vehicles, out of which 1.8 million were Dubai vehicles

In 2019, Salik counted a total of 571 million road trips. In 2020, this figure stood at 400 million. In 2021, the number climbed to 481. In the first half of 2021, total trips stood at 227 million, while the figure clocked 267 million in the same period in 2022.

Approximately 1.6 million vehicles pass through the eight Salik toll gates every day

As many as 600,000 Salik tags and two million recharge cards are sold annually