The Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre is expected to receive a R15 million bailout from the municipality as it grapples with the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.Picture Bongani Mbatha: AfricanNews Agency (ANA)
DURBAN - ONE of eThekwini Municipality’s struggling flagships, the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (ICC), is expected to receive a R15 million bailout from the municipality as it grapples with the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, during the city’s budget vote last week, announced the allocation of R15m to keep the ICC afloat during the 2021/2022 financial year.
Kaunda said the ICC had been performing “extremely well” before the lockdown, and congratulated the entity for continuing to keep a clean audit record.
The ICC was recently nominated as Africa’s Leading Meetings and Conferences Destination 2021.
“The ICC was performing extremely well, with revenue and operating profits exceeding budget. We are going to continue to support the entity as we are still grappling with the pandemic,” said Kaunda.
DA eThekwini caucus leader Nicole Graham, however, said the ICC was soon going to find its feet and that other struggling Durban flagships such as the Moses Mabhida Stadium should rather have benefited.
“Moses Mabhida is becoming a burden to the city. I believe that attention should to be given to the stadium. The ICC generally does very well,” said Graham.
She said Moses Mabhida was one of the struggling entities that had been discussed in one of the municipality’s executive committee (Exco) meetings.
Municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela was not immediately able to say if Moses Mabhida had received a bailout from the city.
IFP and Exco member Mdu Nkosi said the ICC was doing very well before the lockdown. He said it would give the impression of an uncaring municipality and one without any vision if the city’s entities, stadiums and other tourist attractions were left to collapse during the pandemic.
“We cannot afford to have job losses. After Covid-19, life will continue. The ICC is an entity that competes internationally,” he said.
He said the Moses Mabhida Stadium had been struggling since the lockdown, but had to be kept running.
ICC director of marketing, sales and events, Scott Langley, did not comment on the funding.
Kaunda said eThekwini was the first metro in the country to develop an economic recovery plan, which had enabled the city to attract more than 3.4 billion in foreign direct investment through catalytic projects.
According to the municipality, 6 000 companies that fall under the metro were forced to close and 300 000 jobs were lost due to the pandemic.
Daily News
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