Dubai hopes to finalise USD2.5bn in fundraising this year for a 15km extension of its metro to the World Expo. Mattar al-Tayer, chairman and director general of Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority said that he hopes that the funds will arrive before the end of the year when construction is also started. Al-Tayer also said that the government has already made an advance payment of AED600mn to a consortium of contractors including France's Alstom, Spain's Acciona and Turkey's Gulermak. The project, worth some USD2.9bn, will run up about USD2.5bn in debt. Of this, about USD1.5bn is backed by export credit agencies (ECAs) and the rest is a commercial loan. (Reuters)