With the Blantyre Cultural Centre (BCC) formerly French Cultural Centre still in a sorry state following its ransacking by thieves, the government has assured the creative industry that it is doing everything possible to renovate the once mighty entertainment Mecca.
Despite being open to different activities, BCC which was bought by the Malawi government from the French in 2011 is still in a pathetic state with the renovations moving at a snail’s pace.
The development has worried the creative industry which feels the government is paying little attention to the renovation of the centre.
The centre was left vulnerable following the delay in the handover of the keys by the French Embassy to the government which bought it at K300 million.
The French Embassy asked the government to channel the money to France and this was during the time the country was struggling with forex.
The handover thus took time with the centre left without security forcing thieves to ransack it.
Having bought the centre, the government will have to spend more on its rehabilitation.
Ministry of Sports and Culture Spokesperson, Christopher Mbukwa, said the ministry is determined to ensure that the centre is renovated to the required standard considering its importance to promoting culture in the country.
He then revealed that K50 million has been allocated to the project.
“There is a reduction from K75 million which was given during the 2015/2016 Financial Year,” said Mbukwa.
He, however, said the estimated amount for the whole project is around K350 million.
Mbukwa also said that the Department of Culture has been allocated K381 million on other recurrent transactions budget and K50 million on Capital budget during the 2016/2017 Financial Year.
He said during the 2015/2016 Financial Year, the department was allocated K275 million and K125 million respectively.
“These allocations include K120 million each year for Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma). There is a slight improvement but wouldn’t suffice to implement the reforms activities for the department,” said Mbukwa.
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