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IS ICC/FISH LAKUDLIWA KHONA IMALI? - MP LUTFO

14/03/2023 08:49:00 Sabelo Majola

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MBABANE – Is the ICC&FISH a commercially viable project or a money-milking scheme?

This was a question that was posed by Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini, as he implored the Minister of Economic Planning and Development, Dr Tambo Gina, to take a stand on which direction the project was taking between being a commercially viable one or it being a money-milking scheme. In vernacular, he asked if the ICC was a place ‘lakudliwa khona imali?’.
This was during the ministry’s portfolio committee annual performance report presentation in Parliament over a week ago. Dlamini said the way he viewed it currently, the project was nothing but a money-milking project and the minister, together with other Cabinet members, needed to take a stance on the matter and decide whether the project would continue being a money-milking project or a commercially viable one that would help the country, among other things.

“Nobody seems to be bothered about the non-completion of the project except for Members of Parliament (MPs). The only thing that government is saying on the project is that there is progress. Can the minister reveal to the House if they will one day decide to make the project a commercially viable one or things will remain as they are kuchutjekwe kudliwe,” he said.
Dlamini said one of the things that would prove that government, through the ministry, had decided on which direction they were taking on the project, would be to find a prospective operator. “You can’t build something this big without knowing who will be entrusted to operate it, it has never been done before,” he submitted.

Identified

Dlamini said the back and forth that the operator should be identified by the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, while the assumption with others was that it should be the ministry of Economic Planning and Development should also stop because this was a business entity and as much as it would attract tourists, it remained a business entity and he wondered why it should be Tourism (to look for an operator). It should be noted that the Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Moses Vilakati, had mentioned that they had already found an operator at Pigg’s Peak Hotel, who was already on the ground and working and their next assignment was to find one for the ICC&FISH. He said this during his ministry’s portfolio committee annual performance report presentation last week Wednesday.

It had been previously reported that when the ICC&FISH project commenced in 2012, government estimated that it would cost around E370 million; with the ICC expected to set the taxpayer back by E290 million and the FISH anticipated to be completed for the amount of E80 million. That financial year (2012/2013), E65 million and E80 million in local funds for the ICC and Millennium Hotel were released, respectively. Fast forward to 2023 – 11 years later – the project is still ongoing and the cost is far beyond the E370 million; this figure is now a mere fraction of what this project is now forecasted to cost. For the entire ICC&FISH, it is estimated that the total cost, once the project is complete, will stand at E7.36 billion. Responses to this matter will be furnished in writing.

Meanwhile, Minister Gina said in the period under review, the global economy remained under pressure, owing to the economic challenges emanating from the ongoing global tensions, and triggering acceleration in the prices of basic commodities such as fuel and food. He said these developments, which immediately flared up inflationary pressures in most countries, necessitated the implementation of monetary policy tightening by most central banks weighing negatively on consumption and investment spending. “In the domestic economy, consumption demand slumped in 2022 as inflation surged, averaging 4.8 per cent compared to an average inflation of 3.9 per cent in 2021, elevating the strain on consumer’s cost of living.

Reliant

Additionally, other economic sectors, mostly those reliant on external demand i.e., export-oriented manufacturing sector, suffered from weaker global demands as well as high production costs. As such domestic economic output is estimated to have been muted in 2022, increasing by only 0.4 per cent,” he said. The minister said nonetheless, there were positive prospects expected in the short to medium term, largely supported by the anticipated improvements in the country’s fiscal position, which would ease some of the lingering fiscal pressures and further support both public consumption and investment spending. Dr Gina said these developments, coupled with broad based growth in some sectors such as manufacturing, tourism and financial services, were expected to drive growth in the short-medium term, with GDP improving by an average of 4.4 per cent in the 2023/2025 period.