PLANS to break ground on the Cyprus Cultural Centre are going ahead as scheduled this November, the Centre’s General Manager Tassos Angelis said yesterday, despite the possibility that the Ministry of Finance may soon cut funding to the project.
Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis told Politis newspaper over the weekend that the government may cut the centre’s funding as part of a package of measures intended to avert the same type of economic crisis in Cyprus that has recently paralysed Greece. But it is understood that a political decision on whether to go ahead with the cuts has not yet been reached.
Finance Ministry Press Officer Michalis Papadopoulou said he had not seen the report in Politis and could not comment on it. He did, however, say that the Ministry “will spend as long as the project is going on.”
Angelis insisted that government funding for the Centre would not be cut because this year’s funding has already been approved by the Cabinet and the Parliament.
“There was a public commitment by the President that it would not be shelved, and this was heard by everyone in Cyprus,” he said. “He kept his promise and he had the project included in the budget.”
Angelis also asserted that the government had already spent too much money to turn its back and abandon its plans for the centre.
“More than €15 million will be spent by the government, so I do not know how [they] can throw away this money,” he said. “It does not make sense to stop this project now.”
But Angelis did say that Stavrakis “has always been against [the Cyprus Cultural Centre].”
The centre is currently in the midst of the pre-qualification phase, which is set up to determine which contractors may apply for tenders.
Those contractors who qualify will then be asked to submit tenders to decide who will be awarded the contract for building the centre. The pre-qualification phase ends in May and the contractor will be chosen in November. Building will commence soon afterward, said Angelis.
The centre is applying to the European Commission for additional funding. Angelis noted that such an application could not be made without the project already being “very advanced.”
The Cyprus Cultural Centre is scheduled to open its doors to the public in 2012, although work was postponed once last year already due to the failure of some government services to clear the building site for delivery.
Once in operation, the centre will host symphonic and chamber music, dance, opera, and musical theatre performances.
“It is going to be the steam engine for cultural development in Cyprus and in the arts,” boasted Angelis. “It will be the gem of Nicosia and Cyprus and will make Cyprus proud.”
