Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is preparing to issue tender documents in the middle of this year for the project management of the extension to Dubai Metro’s Green line.

The extension will take the Green line from its existing terminus at Creek station in the Jadaf area, across the Creek to the Dubai Creek Harbour development and then onto Academic City.

The rail link will be a boost for Dubai Creek Harbour, which is being developed by local developers Dubai Holding and Emaar Properties. The 6 square-kilometre development will have a large shopping mall and The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour, which when completed is expected to be the world’s tallest man-made structure.

The connection to Silicon Oasis and Academic City will also be a catalyst to further development in that area of Dubai.

The Green line extension is just one future line that the RTA is considering. At the end of last year it awarded the UK’s Atkins a consultancy contract to update and modify the RTA’s proposed future metro lines and other public transport networks such as the tram.

The transport agency’s previous 2030 masterplan includes a 421-kilometre-long railway network with 197 stations.

Dubai is already working on a 15km long extension to the Red line. Last year the RTA awarded a AED10.6bn ($2.9bn) contract to design and build the Dubai Metro’s Route 2020 link to a consortium of Spain’s Acciona, Turkey’s Gulermak and France’s Alstom.