Saudi Binladin Group has asked for an extension on a 817 million riyal ($217.8 million) Islamic loan that matured last week and which was being used to fund construction work on the kingdom’s Grand Mosque site, according to sources aware of the matter.
The request to delay the payment, originally due on July 15, was because the Saudi government had yet to reimburse the construction firm for works carried out on Islam’s holiest location, the sources said on condition of anonymity due to the subject’s sensitivity.
The company has been hit by government spending cuts and by its suspension from receiving new state contracts since September last year, when a crane accident killed 107 people at Makkah’s Grand Mosque.
Binladin declined to comment. Dubai Islamic Bank, which originally helped arrange the Islamic loan, declined to comment. A spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Finance couldn’t be reached for comment. (Reuters)
