LIKELIHOOD ICC WON’T BE COMPLETE BY DEC – MINISTER

LOBAMBA – The Minister of Economic Planning and Development, Dr Tambo Gina, says there is a likelihood that the International Convention Centre (ICC) might not be fully completed by December this year.

The minister made this statement after he was asked by the Senate Portfolio Committee yesterday, during the annual performance report and budget debate of the ministry. The senators noted that the ministry’s budget proposal for the 2024/25 financial year increased by over E1 billion, due to the E1.1 billion that was allocated to the ICC&FISH. The senators noted that in the annual report, the ministry mentioned that by December 31, 2024, the ICC&FISH would be complete.

resources

Senator Tony Sibandze noted that they had been allocating resources to the ICC. He mentioned that some of the budget that had been allocated to the project were loans and were likely to start incurring interests, while the convention centre had not started operating. Sibandze noted that between now and December, only a short time remained. “You have nine months to finish the project minister. Are you sure that if we pass the budget, by December you will have finished? I pray that indeed you would have finished, because if not, angeke kube kahle,” he said. Senator Prince Ngangabani said he was unsure whether he wanted to approve the ministry’s budget, more especially the one for the ICC. “Is the minister sure that the ICC will be completed this year, because if the project is not completed, it draws unnecessary attention? The minister must give a satisfactory answer.  Ngatsi ngisatobeka umuno kule budget,” he said.

Senator Chief Ngome Ndlangamadla said it was more expensive for the country not to be able to complete strategic projects like the ICC, among others, within allocated time. He said he was not against the allocation, but was concerned about projects that were not completed within the stipulated time frame. Senator Lindiwe Ngwenya pleaded with the minister to be vigilant on the funds that were invested in that project. She alleged that junior officers were forced by some senior staff to mark-up or charge exorbitant fees for some of the equipment used at ICC. She said funds that should be used for other works made their way to people’s pockets and that was unfair to emaSwati.

Budget

“We will approve the budget but the question is, are all the funds going to be utilised appropriately?” she asked. The senator said as long as there was poor monitoring of funds, the ICC would not be completed this year and the ministry would be asking for more funds in the next financial year. She alleged that the corruption at ICC also involved high ranking government officials and this was unfair to the taxpayer, because they funded the budget. She said if the mismanagement of funds continued at the ICC, the future generation would pay debts that benefited a few fat cats. The minister said the ICC was going to be completed in December, with the likelihood of a two-month extension. Gina said the two-month extension might be for final touches, such as decorations, among other things. The minister said when the ICC started, it was valued at E1.76 billion. He said it was then noted that the African Union was coming and the cost increased to E1.9 billion.

He mentioned that most of the tender bids were around E2.6 billion, but government refused those bids. He added that the Five Start Hotel (FISH) started around 2014, with E1.8 billion.
He said he was unaware of the reports that implied that the ICC&FISH was initially estimated to cost E400 million. He said it was true that it was not completed within the allocated time and the cost had increased, because government ran out of funds in the process. Gina said if there were enough funds, the project would have been competed within the allocated budgets.

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