Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) plans to build 12 new marine transport stations at the Business Bay Canal and the Dubai Water Canal, according to a report by state-controlled Emirates News Agency (Wam) on 15 August.

RTA director-general Mattar al-Tayer said five of these stations are currently being built at the Dubai Water Canal project, and the remaining seven stations will be built at the Business Bay Canal by 2018, the report cited.

The projects will help boost the country’s maritime sector. Once completed, the number of marine transport stations acros the emirate will have reached 18, including the existing stations at the Dubai Creek. Al-Tayer envisages the marine transport sector will play an integral role in the emirate’s mass transit network, which currently transports 13 million passengers a year.

Al-Tayer said he expects the eventual completion of the link connecting the Business Bay Canal and Dubai Water Canal with the Arabian Gulf to inevitably encourage gorwth in the number of available transport modes, stations and passengers.

As well as building additional canal stations, the RTA has launched water taxis at popular tourist destinations such as the Atlantis Hotel, Dubai Mall Lake and Mamzar beach over the past few years. It has also retrofitted nearly 150 abra (traditional boat) engines, has overhauled abra dockyards and marinas, and has launched a 36-seater water bus.