Enterprise Risk Management
… continues to serve as a central engine to manage uncertainties and drive performance and resilience.
As the biggest urban hub for tourism and business in the Gulf, Dubai is a city that rarely sleeps. Tourists and business executives, as well as the Emirate’s approximately 4.7 million daytime residents, rely on Dubai being open and accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
As Dubai’s exclusive toll operator, Salik is aware of and committed to its obligation to provide seamless, barrier‑free, uninterrupted motion through its ten automatic toll gates running through the heart of the Emirate, where 638.2 million vehicles passed during 2024.
As Salik embarks on its growth trajectory by diversifying its revenue streams while ensuring continued disruption‑free operations of the Dubai tolling systems, Salik’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework continues to serve as the central engine for all risk management activities across the organisation.
In 2024, Salik adopted a Risk Maturity Model (RMM) in its pursuit towards enhancement of the culture and maturity of its ERM practices and has conducted an initial assessment of the maturity level against the RMM. The Risk Maturity Model (RMM) serves as a benchmark of practices against an umbrella framework that covers ISO 31000, OCEG Red Book and COSO standards. An Internal Audit was conducted in 2024 on the ERM processes and it’s maturity levels using the RMM and prioritized action plan has been developed for enhancing the ERM practices. ERM serving as the central engine for all risk management activities was also audited by an External Certification Body, as part of the ISO 37301 Compliance Management System Certification in 2024.
Salik has designed and adopted its risk management practices at all levels as an integrated tool for decision‑making. This encompasses strategic and other emerging risks, operational risks and project‑specific risks which included application of the risk criteria while developing new services such as parking payment solutions for Dubai Mall and cooperation with Liva Group.
At Salik, we have not only designed technologies with built‑in continuity capabilities, but have developed an organisational culture where risk management, business continuity, response and recovery protocols, and financial resilience are embedded in everything we do. Implementing a culture and philosophy of reliability and resilience at all levels of the organisation has helped the Company to realise virtually no customer‑facing systems downtime and close to zero revenue losses.
Salik’s integrated approach to ERM, business continuity management and crisis management underpins its ability not only to respond to operational disruptions but to deliver on its long‑term growth objectives. Contextualised risk appetite statements have been approved by Salik’s Board of Directors, setting out limits on acceptable risks for all business units to follow in pursuit of opportunities and growth. These support risk‑based decision‑making at all levels. Awareness sessions are conducted on the ERM & BCM framework for decision makers across Salik which supports culture building. Moreover Emerging Risks are also discussed on an yearly basis to understand the proximity, materiality and knock‑on effects of these risks on Salik’s Strategy and Operations. The key risks summarized in this report incorporates the impacts of the Emerging Risks on Salik.
Salik’s ERM Policy drives common language and protocols for identifying, documenting and communicating risks. The deployment of the ERM Policy across the organisation at all levels ensure identification and management of risks, within the overarching appetite levels set out by the Board of Directors. These risks, along with their mitigation plans across all levels of the organisation, are monitored by the management level committee established at Salik. This ensures that a cross‑functional management team is always on top of all risk‑management activities, including critical vendor and third‑party relationships, driving Salik’s readiness and resilience to disruptions across value chains.
Top risks affecting Salik’s ability to achieve its strategy and ensure disruption‑free operations are aggregated and communicated to the Salik Board of Directors, having already been reviewed and endorsed by Salik’s management committees. The top risks are also independently endorsed by Salik’s Audit Committee. This exercise is carried out on a quarterly basis to ensure that the Salik Board of Directors is aware of and informed on the top risks for their timely attention and instruction.
Salik’s best‑in‑class roadside tolling technology is designed to deliver continuity and resilience. It was built on high‑availability and high‑redundancy designs that produce 99%+ uptimes across all toll gates as well as back‑end processes. Disaster recovery plans support the fundamentally robust technical framework, which in 2024 continued to support seamless notification, monitoring, communication, resolution of incidents and resumption of services.
Salik’s business continuity management system, based on a BCM Policy approved by the Board of Directors, ensures that business impact analyses are regularly carried out. Furthermore, business continuity plans are prepared and tested to ensure resilient operations.
Salik’s ERM seamlessly aligns with the ‘Three Lines of Defence’ Governance model, with the Board of Directors providing executive decisions on the key risks faced by Salik. In addition, its Audit Committee, which has visibility and oversight over the Risk Management and control activities across Salik, provides assurance on all the Governance practices adopted by Salik.
Key Risks & Salik’s Risk Management Approach
The following summarises Salik’s Key Risks and its management approach with the aim of enhancing stakeholder value and achieving sustainable performance.
