Dubai expects to appoint a programme management consult for its 2020 World Expo by the end of this year.

Consultants submitted proposals earlier this year for the role that involves managing the development of the Expo site and coordinating other related developments around Dubai.

The 438-hectare Expo site is next to the newly opened Al-Maktoum International airport, located between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The masterplan for the Dubai Trade Centre Jebel Ali, as the Expo site will be known after the event, along with the surrounding residential, hospitality and logistics zone, was developed by a consortium of US-based HOK and the UK’s Arup.

Other firms have started work preparing plans for new transport infrastructure for the Expo, including a new metro line, to carry an expected 25 million visitors to the site between 20 October 2020 and 10 April 2021.

In July, Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) awarded a joint venture of the US’ Parsons International and France’s Systra the contract to complete the preliminary engineering for the new metro line. Work on the study began in August.

In mid-October, the Dubai Expo 2020 Bureau shared its preliminary plans, priorities and governance with the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) today.

This is the second update required for official registration with BIE, which oversees the preparation and delivery of World Expos. The process involves formalising legal, financial, design and marketing plans. Once the plans have been recognised, the Expo 2020 Bureau, responsible for preparing and delivering the event, has five years to finalise them and oversee construction of the Expo site.