Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said it has awarded a Dh67-million ($17.6 million) contract for developing the first phase of the extension of the Academic City Road Project.

The project is set for completion in the second quarter of 2016, said a statement from the RTA.

The project comprises two parts; the first covers the extension of Hessa Road in a sector stretching 4 km with two lanes in each direction.

It starts from the entry point of Remraam Residential Project up to the existing round about at the entry of Dubai Sports City; which will be converted to a signalised junction to ease the mobility of residents from and to the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, it stated.

Announcing the details, Mattar Al Tayer, the director general and chairman of the RTA board, said: "The project will cut short the journey time from 20 to 5 minutes, and serve a number of development projects such as the Dubai Studio City, Mudon, Akoya, and the Dubai Golf City."

"The completion of the project will mark the completion of a traffic corridor extending from Al Safouh Road in the west to Emirates Road in the East, thus becoming one of the key arterial roads in the area," stated Al Tayer.

According to him, the second part of the project comprises the construction of a road linking the extension of the Academic City Road with the Emirates Road; which will serve The Villa project over a 2.5 km-long stretch comprising two lanes in each direction.

The Villa complex is one of three main residential projects of Dubai Properties at Dubailand. It has a unique site just a few minutes off downtown area nearby Dubai Academic City, and the Silicon Oasis. It is also close to highways such as the Mohammed bin Zayed Road, and the Dubai-Al Ain Road.-TradeArabia News Service