Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has confirmed that construction of the Dubai Metro is progressing on schedule despite reports that the consortium building the project have slowed down the pace of work.

In a statement given to MEED on 10 January the RTA says that “work is progressing normally at various sites in both the Red and Green lines to finalise the remaining works of the project.”

The RTA also says it is continuing with its contractual obligations in line with progress on site.

There have been various reports by the media in Japan and Europe that the consortium, which is led by Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, was slowing the pace of construction work due to a dispute over about $3bn worth of contract payments.

The consortium also includes Japanese contractors Obayashi Corporation, Kajima Corporation, and Turkey’s Yapi Merkezi.

In 2005, the group submitted an initial price for construction work of $4.5bn. However, since then the group has claimed additional costs which the RTA disputes (MEED 05:01:10).

Last year the RTA acknowledged that the cost of building the metro has nearly doubled to about $7.6 bn.

The metro’s Red line opened on 9 September 2009 with 10 stations opening initially. The Burj Khalifa station was due to open on 4 January and the remaining 18 stations will open gradually from February.

The 23-kilometre Green line is scheduled to open in the second half of 2010.