H.E. Mr Mohamed S. Barrie, Ambassador of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, met H.E. Mr Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), at the Fund’s headquarters in Riyadh. The meeting aimed at enhancing bilateral development cooperation and speeding up the implementation of infrastructure projects financed by the SFD in Sierra Leone, with emphasis on the flagship Riyadh Referral Hospital project.
The main objective of Ambassador Barrie’s trip was to formally deliver information about the revised site for the Riyadh Referral Hospital, a planned 150-bed medical facility costing $50 million and funded by the Saudi Fund for Development. The hospital is designed to make a big difference to Sierra Leone’s ability to provide specialist healthcare, opening up access to high-level medical services and improving the country’s health infrastructure.
Al-Marshad, the CEO, appreciated Ambassador Barrie’s visit to the SFD and spoke about the significant progress being made on the SFD’s portfolio in Sierra Leone. He said about 80 per cent of ongoing projects, including two in the education sector, were nearing completion and borehole drilling programmes were about 40 per cent done. The two sides stressed their shared determination to deepen cooperation in priority areas such as energy, education, health and mining.
Discussions resulted in agreement on some specific next steps. The Sierra Leone government will issue an immediate Request for Proposals (RFP) to the SFD for the review and approval of consultancy services for the Riyadh Referral Hospital. This step should accelerate planning and ensure that the project is on a sound technical and managerial footing.
SFD also expressed an interest in broadening its support for mining and energy projects in Sierra Leone. “I will work very closely with the country’s Ministries of Energy and Mines to identify viable, bankable project proposals for SFD financing and facilitate their submission for consideration,” Ambassador Barrie said.
To that end, Ambassador Barrie will facilitate a strategic meeting in Riyadh between Sierra Leone’s Minister of Energy and the CEO of SFD and the Saudi Minister of Energy and Mines to promote Sierra Leone’s efforts in this area. The CEO of the Saudi Fund said he would like to visit Sierra Leone as soon as possible to see projects firsthand and to engage directly with government counterparts and stakeholders, at the request of Ambassador Barrie.
The meeting also discussed the issue of the NPRA Tank Farm project with the SFD CEO expressing strong interest in supporting the project. Ambassador Barrie appreciated the Saudi Fund for its continued support and emphasised Sierra Leone’s commitment to ensuring the transparency, efficiency and timely completion of all mutually agreed projects.
The two parties ended the meeting on an optimistic note that the Riyadh Referral Hospital and other SFD projects under construction will make a significant contribution to improving public service delivery and quality of life in Sierra Leone.
