DUBAI — Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has made an operational surplus of 61 percent after the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and a series of innovative initiatives. It also achieved record savings in the use of energy through 46 projects and initiatives that resulted in saving 45 million gallons of water, 30 million liters of fuel and 39 million kilowatts/hour of electricity. In the field of health and safety, the RTA led the region by recording the least road traffic fatalities of 2.3 cases per 100,000 of the population compared to 21.9 cases per 100,000 of the population in 2006. Additionally, RTA’s services achieved a customer satisfaction rating as much as 92 percent. These figures were released in the recently published RTA Sustainability Report 2019, prepared according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, and the Assurance Standards AA1000 2008 (AA1000AS). The CEO of RTA’s Strategy and Corporate Governance Sector, Nasser Abu Shehab, expressed delight with the statistics of the report, which reflected the RTA’s efforts to improve the performance in social, environmental and economic standards. "In 2019, the RTA launched its sustainability framework formalizing the alignment to international, federal and local strategies of sustainability ambitions, creating a sustainability governance structure. “The key areas of the sustainability framework had been categorized into three pillars, nine focus area and 30 elements that emphasized the RTA’s values, and balanced its business goals to ensure Dubai’s Sustainable future and estimated sustainable impacts of actions," Abu Shehab said. "As for Sustainable Procurement, the RTA is proudly the first government entity in the transportation industry to be awarded ISO20400 for Sustainable Procurement. “We also became the first government entity in the transportation industry to be Certified the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS). We also implemented the ‘Code of Vendor and Investor Conduct,’ to ensure streamlining of all vendor and investor conduct and the principles mandated by RTA for these external parties. "The essence of sustainability for any corporation is to have a strong set of values that enable the organization to foster a sustainability culture, not just for today, but for tomorrow’s consumers, employees, stakeholders and communities. “The RTA, therefore, gives due consideration to these aspects in all operational and service projects in line with the directives of our government and its strategic goals: Smart Dubai, People Happiness Advance RTA, Safety and Environmental Sustainability," Abu Shehab said. — WAM