Government will be spending US$150 million to improve the lives of Barbadians.
The money, which will come from the Saudi Development Fund, will be spent on improving water-borne facilities, better housing, the construction of two new polyclinics, while upgrading several others, as well as the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley made those promises yesterday during a press conference at the Grantley Adams International Airport following her return from the inaugural Saudi Arabia-CARICOM Summit.
“The Saudi Development Fund has been very active with individual members of the [CARICOM] community. We put forward a number of projects and I am happy to report that we have reached an agreement on US$100 million funding for a major project on urban renewal.
“This is to allow us to be able to deal with the provision of water borne facilities, proper housing and the provision of proper infrastructural services in urban communities that have been ignored. . . (TSG)
Saudi Arabia’s absolute monarchy restricts almost all political rights and civil liberties. No officials at the national level are elected. The regime relies on pervasive surveillance, the criminalization of dissent, appeals to sectarianism and ethnicity, and public spending supported by oil revenues to maintain power. Women and religious minorities face extensive discrimination in law and in practice. Working conditions for the large expatriate labor force are often exploitative.