ع
Salik announced the contract renewal in a statement, which board chairman Mattar Al Tayer witnessed and chief executive Ibrahim Al Haddad signed alongside TransCore chief executive Whitt Hall. The agreement takes effect on September 13, 2026, and runs through September 12, 2031, continuing a collaboration that began in 2006 when the US firm helped design and launch Dubai’s original open-road tolling network. It encompasses ongoing system development, future expansion upgrades and exploration of artificial intelligence alongside advanced digital tools to improve efficiency and align with the emirate’s smart mobility objectives.
According to Salik’s statement, the renewed deal introduces strengthened provisions on sustainability, governance, cybersecurity, maintenance and business continuity while supporting the evolution of the company’s e-wallet into a broader integrated payments platform. The partnership will enable deployment of new technologies for both current tolling operations and emerging mobility services, including parking payments that build on existing ties with operators such as Parkonic. Salik indicated the contract permits seamless integration of additional toll gates or initiatives as required by the Roads and Transport Authority under the long-term concession that extends to 2071.
The company said there had been no material change to the financial impact relative to the previous contract, with annual operating expenses remaining between 5 percent and 5.5 percent of total revenues. Salik’s earlier investor presentations identified these TransCore-related costs, which cover operations, maintenance, software enhancements, tags and recharge cards, as a stable element of its expense structure. The operator has meanwhile diversified beyond core tolling, launching partnerships for digital insurance renewals and valet parking that generated ancillary revenue growth in recent quarters.
Ibrahim Al Haddad said the company plans to use advanced technologies and digital solutions to improve operational performance and support its expansion into a broader range of mobility services. The announcement linked the partnership to Dubai’s vision for an advanced, smart and sustainable mobility ecosystem capable of handling rising urban transport demands. TransCore’s two decades of accumulated expertise on the Salik system, which processes hundreds of millions of transactions yearly, will continue to underpin service reliability and innovation.
Salik’s investor materials have repeatedly emphasised technology partnerships as central to its asset-light model and post-2022 listing strategy on the Dubai Financial Market. The Roads and Transport Authority previously reported that the tolling network helped cut peak-period traffic volumes by as much as 22 percent on key routes, outcomes that encouraged further digital service rollouts. First-quarter 2026 results released by the company showed revenue of AED 728.9 million, reflecting resilience supported by both tolling stability and expanding non-toll income streams.
With the five-year extension now in place, Salik maintains uninterrupted technical support as it pursues additional mobility initiatives across the emirate. The statement noted that the agreement also covers potential new toll locations and system enhancements without altering the established performance indicators used to evaluate the contractor. This continuity positions the operator to sustain high transaction throughput while adapting to evolving requirements in Dubai’s intelligent transport infrastructure.
