Egypt, Saudi Arabia sign 60 billion Saudi riyal investment fund pact

New Royal Adelaide Hospital project director quits amid continued delays 9NEWS By 9NEWS The project director for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) Judith Carr has resigned, after building consortium SA Health Partnerships failed to meet a technical completion deadline. (Facebook/SA Health) The project director for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) Judith Carr has resigned, after building consortium SA Health Partnerships failed to meet a technical completion deadline. (Facebook/SA Health) FShareTTweetBMailAMore The project director for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) Judith Carr has resigned, after building consortium SA Health Partnerships failed to meet a technical completion deadline. Health Minister Jack Snelling is believed issued a major default against the contractor last Monday, taking SA Health Partnerships to task last week for offering “pie-in-the-sky” completion dates, The Advertiser reported. It comes as yet another in a series of setbacks and delays for the $2.78 billion, 11-storey construction venture named the “third most expensive project in the world”. Mrs Carr has declined to comment as to her reasons for quitting, however sources close to the former director believe she had intended to retire following the RAH’s completion. Mrs Carr is also set to depart her position as Executive Director of Procurement at the South Australian Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. “Judith has made an exceptional contribution to the NRAH (new Royal Adelaide Hospital) project and I thank her and wish her well,” Mr Snelling said in a written statement to the Sunday Mail. Mrs Carr is believed to have acted as mediator between the government and contractors, in the wake of contract disputes over expenses stemming from design changes and cleaning up contaminated soil. Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade has slammed the government for its management of the project, claiming the new RAH is $640 million over budget, and that it will open a year later than originally scheduled. “There is now an engulfing sense of crisis in the new RAH project and Jack Snelling is not even giving a hint that he has the capacity to get it back on track,” Mr Wade said. Mrs Carr will be replaced by her deputy, Simon Morony, SA Health’s long-standing facility development director. Mrs Carr is not the first senior employee to leave the new RAH building project. RAH program director Andrew Nielsen resigned last year, citing personal reasons. Dr David Panter, then-chief executive of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, of which the Royal Adelaide Hospital is a part had quit weeks earlier. Dr Panter held the position of RAH project director previously. Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/health/2016/04/10/16/18/new-royal-adelaide-hospital-project-director-quits-amid-continued-delays#bXv0xEcBtvLhajDD.99 =================== Sat Apr 9, 2016 7:12pm EDT Related: World, Saudi Arabia, Egypt CAIRO | By Ali Abdelaty Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomes Saudi Arabia's King Salman in Cairo, Egypt, in this handout photo received April 7, 2016. Reuters/Saudi Press Agency/Handout via Reuters Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement late on Saturday to set up a 60 billion Saudi riyal investment fund among other investment agreements including an economic free-zone to develop Egypt's Sinai region, Egyptian state television reported. The signing of the agreements took place in Egypt's Abdeen palace in the presence of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi's King Salman, during a rare 4-day visit to Egypt. Egypt has struggled to spur economic growth since the 2011 uprising ushered in political instability that scared off tourists and foreign investors, key sources of foreign currency. Egyptian state TV said the agreement was to establish "a Saudi-Egyptian investment fund with a capital of 60 billion riyals between the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the entities belonging to it and the Egyptian government and the entities that belong to it." A memorandum of understanding was also signed between the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the Egyptian International Cooperation Ministry to set up an economic free-zone in Sinai. No other details were announced. The two countries also signed agreements to develop a 2250 Megawatt electricity plant with a cost of $2.2 billion, set up agriculture complexes in Sinai and develop a canal to transfer water, a statement from the Presidency said. The statement also said that a company was set up to develop 6 square kilometers of the industrial zone around Egypt's Suez Canal worth $3.3 billion, without giving further details. The investments are part of a change in strategy from Saudi Arabia to focus more on financial support that will also benefit Saudi Arabia with return on investment. Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf oil producers, has pumped billions of dollars, including grants, into Egypt's flagging economy since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Some of the projects announced on Saturday include private sector investments. Last week the deputy head of the Saudi-Egyptian Business Council told Reuters that Saudi businessmen are investing around $4 billion in projects in Egypt and have already deposited 10 percent of that sum in Egyptian banks. Egypt is aiming for direct foreign investment of around $8-$10 billion in 2015/16. On Friday, King Salman announced that a bridge connecting Egypt and Saudi Arabia would be built across the Red Sea. No details were given. Egypt also signed development agreements with Saudi Arabia worth $590 million, Egyptian International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr said on Friday. She said the agreements, signed with the Saudi finance minister, covered development in the Sinai peninsula, agriculture, housing and a university. The agreements also include a memorandum of understanding between Saudi Aramco and Egypt's Arab Petroleum Pipelines Company SUMED. (Reporting by Ali Abdelatty, writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Tom Brown and Franklin Paul) ======================= Sat Apr 9, 2016 10:17pm EDT TransCanada receives approval notice for Keystone pipeline restart A TransCanada Keystone Pipeline pump station operates outside Steele City, Nebraska March 10, 2014. REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom A TransCanada Keystone Pipeline pump station operates outside Steele City, Nebraska March 10, 2014. Reuters/Lane Hickenbottom TransCanada Corp (TRP.TO) said it received authorization from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on Saturday evening to restart the 590,000 barrel per day Keystone crude pipeline at reduced pressure. The Canadian pipeline company said that regulator PHMSA has approved a return to service plan for a controlled start. It was not immediately clear when and if the pipeline had restarted. The pipeline, which delivers light and heavy crude from Hardisty, Alberta, to Cushing, Oklahoma, and Illinois, was shut last Saturday after a potential leak was discovered in South Dakota. (Reporting by Catherine Ngai in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)