Bahrain, Saudi development fund sign $58m financial grant agreements

Two financial grant agreements have been signed between Bahrain and the Saudi Development Fund (SDF) in implementation of the second phase of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s grant under the Gulf Development Programme.The SDF has been assigned the task of managing the Saudi grants which cover two projects in the health sector in consideration of $ 58 million as part of the total Saudi grant of $ 2.5 billion.The two agreements have been signed from the Bahraini side by Finance Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa; and, Yusuf Ibrahim Al-Bassam Vice President and Managing Director of the Saudi Development Fund; in the presence of the Saudi Ambassador to Bahrain, Dr. Abdullah Abdul-Malik Al Al-Sheikh.The first agreement includes the provision of the necessary funding for construction of the Kidney Dialysis Centre in Riffa in consideration for a total sum of $ 21 million. The project aims to provide medical services to kidney patients with an intake capacity of 60 beds and to reduce waiting lists and increase efficacy of healthcare in this field.The second agreement includes the provision of funding towards construction of the Long-term Stay Care Centre in Muharraq City in consideration for a total amount of $ 37 million to provide medical services to patients who need long-term stay at health centres (HCs) with a total intake capacity of 100 beds.It is worth mentioning that six similar grant agreement were signed earlier on 30 December 2012 with the Saudi Development Fund which covered housing, education, works, electricity and water projects with a total amount of $ 448 million.