The UAE, which celebrated its 36th National Day on December 2, 2007, seems to have the most advanced infrastructure for transport sector in the region.

The country has extensive network of airports, international airports, international aviation companies, road network, bridges, tunnels and other projects, keeping it at par with advanced countries.

The railways system had been introduced for the first time in the UAE. Work is underway to introduce metro in Dubai at cost Dh15 billion. Meanwhile, studies have been completed to construct railways in Abu Dhabi, which will link all the UAE emirates.

The UAE has seven international airports: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Al Ain. There are three international airports in Abu Dhabi - Abu Dhabi International Airport, Al Ain International Airport and Al Bateen International Airport, which is allocated for VIP reception.

The number of passengers travelling via different UAE airports has crossed 38 million in 2007, while a number of registered planes in UAE reached 240. More than 275 aviation companies are operating at the UAE airports.

The national carriers - Etihad Airline, Emirates Airline and Al Arabia - have registered quality shift as their fleets increased destinations worldwide.

Etihad Airline flies to 45 destinations, carrying four million passengers in 2007. Emirates Airline flies to 93 destinations and carried 17.5 million in 2007. Al Arabia flies to 35 destinations and it lifted 1.76 million passengers last year.

The UAE has more than 26 seaports, of which 15 are main ones. There are many free zones at these seaports. They offer facilitations and exemptions to woo foreign investment and spur investors to set commercial, industrial, and service enterprises, which support the national economy. The largest free zone is Jebel Ali, which hosts over 6000 industrial, investment, and commercial firms.

Dubai recently announced that its Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) would be investing $22 billion on different road, rail and marine projects to be completed by 2020.

RTA’s Director for Strategic Transport and Planning Nasser Abu Shehab said the plan included the construction of 500km of new roads, 96 new interchanges and nine new ring roads which would make the entire road network in Dubai fully concrete. – TradeArabia News Service