Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) says it will spend AED7.9bn ($2.1bn) on 120 projects in 2010.

The total RTA budget for the year is AED10.7bn and of this, AED2.8bn is operational budget, says Mattar Al-Tayer, executive director of the RTA.

Al-Tayer says that 46 per cent of the budget will be allocated to the rail agency; 29 per cent to roads and traffic agency; 13 per cent to public transport agency and the remaining 12 per cent will go towards licensing and marine agencies.

The RTA plans 13 new projects relating to roads, marine transport, public transport and operational building projects.

The remaining 107 projects, including the Sheikh Zayed Road parallel road project and the improvement of Al-Khail Road are already underway, says Al-Tayer.

The total revenues forecast for the year is AED3.3bn.

Earlier in January, the RTA said that construction of the Dubai Metro is progressing on schedule despite reports that that consortium involved in building the project had slowed down on the pace of work (MEED 10:1:10).

The metro’s red line opened on 9 September 2009 with 10 stations in operation. Burj Khalifa station then opened on 4 January. The remaining 19 stations were due to open from February this year.

However, in reports published earlier this month, a senior official from the RTA said that the opening of the remaining 18 stations of the Red line would be delayed by two months.

The RTA declined to comment saying only that the stations would be “gradually opened shortly”.

The metro’s Green line is still scheduled to open in the second half of 2010.

Al-Tayer also says that construction on the Al-Sufouh tram project is also continuing. Phase one of the tramway is scheduled for completion in 2011 and the second phase in 2012.