Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said it has awarded a contract for an internal roads project in the Al Barsha area of the emirate.

Al Barsha South 2 will complement the initial phase of the internal roads construction project at South 1 – both of which cost a total of Dh100 million ($27.22 million).

The project is part of the five-year plan for the building of internal roads in a number of residential communities in Dubai at a total cost of about Dh1 billion ($27.2 million), said Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the board of executive directors of the RTA.

Work on the 16-km internal road network at Al Barsha South 2 will start this month (August). According to Al Tayer, the construction works on the initial phase at Al Barsha South 1 have almost been completed. The project covered the construction of roads stretching 60 km (49 km as internal roads and 11 km as main roads).

Work on internal roads in five residential areas costing about Dh319 million ($86.85 million) is currently under way, he said.

The RTA will soon be releasing a tender for constructing internal roads at Al Khawaneej 2 and Nad Al Sheba 4, and will undertake other internal road projects next year in five residential districts namely Al Aweer 1, and Jebel Ali Industrial, in addition to Al Qusais Industrial Areas 3, 4 and 5.

Meanwhile, the RTA has appointed Angola-based Aurecon, an engineering, and technical services provider, to upgrade the corridors of Tripoli Road and Algeria Road in the emirate.

It has also announced plans to construct 400 solar-powered air-conditioned bus shelters across Dubai under the second phase of its ambitious project.

On completion of Phase Two, the number of bus shelters will rise to 1,285, Al Tayer said.

In addition, the RTA said it has connected all traffic signals in the emirate (408 junctions) with the traffic control centre using 3G technology. The isolated traffic signals have been linked through wireless technology, thus accomplishing the shifting of traffic signals’ connectivity in Dubai from cables to wireless systems via this technology.