Residents hope Dh250m Fujairah road will reduce traffic and lift trade
A Dh250 million road project in Fujairah to increase trade and cut congestion is on target for completion next year.
The upgrade of Hamad bin Abdullah Road, which began last year and is set to be finished next August, has been welcomed by residents and traders.
They hope it will attract more investors to the area.
The arterial road will be expanded from three to six lanes, and roundabouts replaced with three sets of traffic lights and two tunnels.
Businesses said that detours and road closures had affected their sales because many customers found if difficult to reach their shops, but hope the upgraded road will provide a boost.
“It’s a great initiative that will definitely upgrade our everyday commute experience and will help to attract more investors and ease traffic,” said Jahirul Islam, 41, the Bangladeshi manager of a perfume shop at Fujairah Trade Centre.
“The road was quite old and needed such improvement and we are excited to see it finalised.
“When they started working on the road in front of the centre, customers got confused and didn’t know how to enter the centre, which affected our sales. We hope it will finish on time.”
Emirati resident Saeed Al Yamahi, 46, said: “It’s something we are all proud of. I was born and raised in Fujairah and seeing this project develop makes me even prouder of the emirate’s accomplishments and future vision.
“It will smooth traffic around the emirate and cut the journey time, while the tunnels will provide us and visitors with a high-standard road experience that will definitely affect the emirate’s economy and bring more investors.”
The project is a key part of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development’s investment programme.
“Twenty-six per cent of the road is completed now,” said Ahmad Al Hammadi, director of the ministry’s roads department.