Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini government signed yesterday two deals worth $25 million with the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).

Saudi Arabia has provided about $2.4 billion within the Gulf Marshal program to upgrade infrastructure and services in the Kingdom of Bahrain, where it financed housing projects, projects in the electricity and water sectors, health, education services and infrastructure projects.

Both agreements came as a part of phase III of the Saudi $2.5 billion grant to Bahrain within the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) development program. The agreements were signed by the Minister of Finance of Bahrain Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa and Vice President and Managing Director of Saudi Fund for Development Khalid bin Sulaiman Al Khudairi on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the Board of Governors of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund held in Indonesia.

The first agreement funds extending new roads to Al Lawzi Housing, which is under construction, with a value of $14.4 million. The project will provide new roads to serve 30,000 residents and will contribute to reducing traffic. 

Under the second agreement, funds to finance the development of a long-stay care center in Muharraq, Bahrain, will be increased by $10.6 million to $47.6 million. The long-stay care center will have the capacity of 100 beds.

Signing these two agreements will increase the funds provided to Bahrain within the GCC development program to $2.42 billion, including $442 million for housing projects, $581 million for electricity and water developments, $665 million for road networks, $93 million for sewage facilities, $69 million for healthcare, $85 million for education and $477 million for youth.

Arabic Version