DR GINA: PLEASE DON’T FREEZE ICC&FISH BUDGET

LOBAMBA – Minister of Economic Planning and Development Dr Tambo Gina was short of being on his knees as he pleaded with Members of Parliament (MPs) not to freeze the budget allocation towards the ICC&FISH project.

ICC&FISH is an acronym for the International Convention Centre and Five Star Hotel, which have been under construction in Ezulwini for over seven years. Dr Gina was speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday during the budget debate of the ministry’s annual performance report by the Ministry’s Portfolio Committee chaired by Hlane MP Mduduzi Magagula.

Construction

“Can I make a plea and right now I am speaking from my heart, please allow the construction to continue as we have found an operator for the facility and we will announce it in due course,” submitted the minister. Although not going into detail, the minister said the operator would be announced in due course. This was after several members of the portfolio committee had questioned the E305 million allocation towards the project, stating that it was just a financial drain because to date, government had still not identified an operator for the establishment. One of the MPs who said the budget allocation must be reappropriated to fix the country’s bad roads was Mtfongwaneni MP Roy Fanourakis. “Eish minister, the ICC issue is upsetting, this has been going on for the past five to seven years with no operator, what is the money being allocated now for?” wondered MP Fanourakis.

The MP said the money would probably be used to purchase furniture for the project. “Niyasilahlela lemali,” he said in vernacular. He said the ICC&FISH would remain unused because no one was presently travelling at this day and age because of COVID-19 restrictions. “Even the neighbouring hotels are not operating, such as the Royal Swazi and Lugogo Hotel and, therefore, I suggest we put this amount under Head 60,” said MP Fanourakis. He said the money would be well-allocated if it was used to patch potholes or even be used to purchase fuel for government. He said it did not make sense to have a bad road infrastructure while there was a state-of-the- art building. In response, Dr Gina assured the committee that an operator would be announced in due course as they had tentatively selected one. He said they had initially got one from America, but faced some challenges.

The minister made an example that when Sun City in South Africa was constructed, there had been no operator yet the construction continued. He said stopping construction would not be good for the country. “Please Mtfongwaneni, do not freeze the allocation and allow us to finish,” he said. He stated that they had many plans for the project, especially with large international organisation’s such as the World Bank and SADC, who they would continue to persuade to hold meetings in the kingdom which would be a great boost for the tourism sector. He highlighted that the E305 million allocation was for paying arrears which stood at E299 million. He assured the committee that he would from time-to-time bring a progress report, especially on the issue of the operator who had come at least about three times to the country.

Meanwhile, Gege MP Musa Kunene also called for his colleagues to freeze the allocation. The MP proposed that the millions of Emalangeni be reallocated to the Micro-Projects Unit, which was at least delivering. He said other hotels like the Nhlangano Hotel were struggling to survive and asked how the ICC would thrive, especially because of COVID-19 and the anticipated  third wave. MP Magagula wondered where government would get the operator from, given the current pandemic. “You had a lot of time to secure an operator and I hope you will not use COVID-19 as an excuse,” said MP Magagula.

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