DUBAI: The government has completed the 9 billion-dirham financing exercise to complete the construction of the Dubai Metro’s Route 2020 extension project, the emirate’s Department of Finance said on Thursday. The transaction consists of a 17-year billion dirham loan guaranteed by the French export credit agency Bpifrance Assurance Export and the Spanish export credit agency Compañía Española de Seguros de Crédito a la Exportación, with 14-year amortizations to start in 2020, and a 10-year conventional facility of 4 billion dirhams, with payments over six years to start in 2022. The five-stage Route 2020 project, which will cost 10.6 billion dirhams, will extend the existing Dubai Metro Red Line to the Expo 2020 site and will have seven stations in between. “The encouraging response received for this financing, illustrates the strong confidence of international banks in Dubai’s economy … we have been able to achieve long-term financing at competitive rates while at the same time allowing us to manage our budget proactively and in a fiscally responsible manner,” Abdulrahman Saleh Al Saleh, DoF director general, said in a statement. Banco Santander, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC Middle East Limited, Intesa Sanpaolo and Standard Chartered Bank acted as mandated lead arrangers and the facility providers for the financing. The contract for the design and build for the project was awarded by Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority to a consortium of Alstom Transport, Acciona Infraestructuras and Gulermak