Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda Wednesday expressed disappointment with delays in the refurbishment of the once mighty entertainment mecca, Blantyre Cultural Centre (BCC), formerly French Cultural Centre.
The development came barely a day after Arts and Culture reported that rehabilitation works done by Opco Limited on the amphitheatre had stalled due to technical challenges.
“I am not happy with what I have seen on the ground; there are delays on the project, the rehabilitation was supposed to take place within six months from August last year and, then, we are almost hitting August, but they are not even 25 percent done with the project,” Chimwendo Banda, who was in the company of his deputy Owen Chomanika, said.
He also observed that the works which were being done cannot be followed because of the absence of displays of what the contractor is supposed to do.
“It actually seems that the contractor came on site because they were told that we were coming and this is the tendency we do not want as a government. When people win contracts, they have to do the job diligently, they have to complete the job,” he said.
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Chimwendo Banda, who toured what used to be a library and other places before appreciating the rehabilitation of the amphitheatre, asked the contractor to improve and warned of termination of contract if things will not improve.
He indicated that the government was putting more resources in BCC hence rehabilitation has to move fast so that the place can be operational.
“We are even putting more money to BCC so that we can even increase its capacity. Creatives urgently need this place. This used to be a nice place for entertainment as people used to enjoy arts events such as drama, music, etc, but this is not happening now,” the minister said.
He then promised Malawians that the government is diligent and that it will make sure that BCC wears a new face and starts functioning soon.
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His predecessor Michael Usi, a renowned actor, now Climate Change Minister, also visited the venue where he also complained of delays but nothing happened.
But Chimwendo Banda insisted that BCC will function soon.
Opco Limited Contracts Manager Evans Mkorongo, who indicated that the K150 million project contract figure will rise, said there were some changes to the former designs in order to improve the durability and functionality of the amphitheatre.
“The delays came in because there were several challenges, one of them being the steel roof design because, at first, it was composite or artificial grass thatched,” Mkorongo said, assuring that the rehabilitation works will finish end November this year.
Director of Arts in the Department of Arts in the Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture Humphrey Mpondaminga confirmed on Tuesday that the renovations stopped because there were technical challenges citing drawings, which he indicated were supposed to be revised.
BCC, which has hosted top artists in the past years such as Mali’s Salif Keita, was bought by the government from the French in 2011 at K300 million before it was ransacked by thieves.
