Sharjah Waterfront City, an upcoming 25 billion UAE dirham ($6.8 billion) mixed-use project in the emirate of Sharjah, is planning to set up an internal tram system to service the community.

The project is the largest mixed-use waterfront community in the Northern Emirates. It is being developed by Sharjah Oasis Real Estate Company and spans an area of 60 million square feet on Sharjah’s Gulf coast.

“Tram network is going to be implemented inside our city, and it would be linked to the proposed UAE national railway network at Hamriya 1,” Sultan Al Shakrah, chief executive officer of Sharjah Oasis Real Estate Company, told Thomson Reuters Projects on the sidelines of a press conference announcing the launch of the first phase of Sharjah Waterfront City.

Al Shakrah didn’t say when the tram project would be implemented, but said the development would be linked through two road bridges to the federal highway network comprising Ittihad Road, Mohammed Bin Zayed Road and Emirates Road.

In March 2017, Thomson Reuters Projects reported that Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the United Arab Emirates’ national rail network, had updated its network design to include extending a freight line from Al Dhaid to the Hamriyah free zone and port area in Sharjah.

Sharjah Oasis Real Estate Company’s media and marketing consultant Mohammed Chadi Itani said the tram system is part of development’s infrastructure design. He said details regarding the length of the tram network and its implementation timelines would be revealed at a later date.

In June 2015, the developer had announced that it has appointed WSP Middle East to carry out integrated infrastructure designs for the project.

(Reporting by Anoop Menon; Editing by Michael Fahy)

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