24 April 2016
UITP MENA Transport Congress & Exhibition 2016

Dubai International Convention Centre, 25-27 April 2016

RATP Dev, the international subsidiary of RATP Group, the French state-owned public transport operator and one of the largest public transport operators in the world, will present its capabilities and current regional projects in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Algeria and Morocco, at the UITP MENA Transport Congress & Exhibition 2016. RATP Dev's expertise covers bus, tramway, metro, rail and ancillary services.

RATP Group is acknowledged as a world leader in passenger transport, operating the Paris metro, tram and bus system, and is well positioned to provide the MENA region with new transport systems that meet the highest international standards.

Currently, RATP Dev and its Saudi partner SAPTCO are working on a large-scale project to implement, operate and maintain the first ever bus network in the capital city Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; the network will include over 100 bus lines and three depots. In Qatar, RATP Dev under a local joint-venture agreement is involved in the mobilisation and future operation of the first tramway system in Doha.

In the wider MENA region, RATP Dev operates four transport systems in Algeria - Algiers Metro and Tramway, Oran Tramway and Constantine Tramway - in addition, four new tramway operations in Algeria scheduled to begin operating in the next two years are currently in the early mobilisation phase. RATP Dev also operates the Casa Tram system in Casablanca, Morocco.

In June 2015, RATP Dev signed a partnership with UAE-based Lakhraim Business Group to set up a joint venture targeting the leading transport projects in the United Arab Emirates.

Beyond physical projects, Algerian Tramway (SETRAM) and RATP Dev are collaborating on the creation of an urban rail transportation training institute, which is scheduled to open in 2017 and which will be created as a university campus with accommodation and catering to students and professionals across the entire country, as part of the knowledge transfer commitment.

RATP Dev Chief Executive, François-Xavier Perin, comments: "The transport sector in the MENA region has witnessed major growth and development over the last few years and through our partnerships, RATP Dev aims to make a significant contribution to the sector through our considerable expertise and resources. We are actively engaged in providing our expertise in the operations and maintenance of driverless metro to serve the needs of the region, as several major capital cities have embarked on ambitious infrastructure programs."

UITP's (International Association of Public Transport) MENA transport report released in 2015 by the UITP MENA Centre for Transport Excellence highlights the scale and value of public transport projects across the region. According to UITP, Middle East countries are investing heavily in public transport projects, especially in rail.

The region has allocated over $250bn to various railway projects over the next decade, which will result in 67,000km of railway tracks throughout the region. Current investment in ongoing rail projects reached over $180bn in early 2013 and the most recent estimations suggest the region has approximately 34,000km of completed tracks. The top eight projects have a combined budget of more than USD65bn.

RATP Dev currently has over 6,000 employees working in the Asia-Middle East region and expects to grow its workforce to over 10,000 within the next two years.

-Ends-

About RATP Dev
RATP Dev is the RATP Group subsidiary established in 2002 to export the group's operation and maintenance know-how outside the historic network operated by RATP in the Paris region. RATP Dev now operates in 15 countries on four continents (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the USA, Brazil, India, China, South Korea and the Philippines). In 2015, RATP Dev generated revenues of €1.2 billion.

About RATP Group
With nearly 14 million daily passengers worldwide, RATP Group is the fifth largest urban transport operator in the world. With its 14 metro lines (including two fully automated, driverless lines), two regional express rail lines, seven tramway lines and 350 bus lines, the multimodal network operated by RATP in the Paris region is the largest in the world to be managed by a single company. RATP Group exports its know-how worldwide in operations and maintenance through RATP Dev, its subsidiary with operations in 15 countries, and in innovative services promoting mobility through its subsidiary IXXI. RATP Group has nearly 60,000 staff worldwide and in 2015 generated revenues of €5.556 billion.

For media enquiries for RATP Group, please contact:
Jonathan Walsh,
WPR, Dubai
+971 50 4588610
jon@wprme.com

RATP Dev
charlotte.marcelle@ratpdev.com

© Press Release 2016