Africa-Press – Angola. The Secretary of State for Culture, Maria da Piedade de Jesus, predicted Wednesday, that the future Huambo Cultural Center could be available to the public before the scheduled date (next November) due to the dynamism of the work.
According to the person in charge, who was speaking to the press, at the end of a technical meeting with the contractor for the work, the levels of physical and financial execution of the contract, both in the order of 90 percent, could lead to it being completed by the end of September.
“We are here to verify the work and we are left with a good impression, since part of the contract has already been carried out, although there are still missing elements that are not found in Angola, but that can be completed within the foreseen period, because they were commissioned,” said the Secretary of State.
In principle, he added, the contractor presented November of the current year as the expected date for completion of the project, however, during the meeting he guaranteed a greater effort, to deliver by the end of September and with the probability that some areas will not come to to be completely finished, like the technical part and the biggest amphitheater.
Maria da Piedade de Jesus informed that after completion, a public tender should be held, with a view to better public or private management of the infrastructure, so that it is able to return activities and not turn the property into “a white elephant” as if usually say.
He stated that the center that will provide users, including children, young people and adults, decent spaces for recreational activities, both indoors and outdoors, for leisure and for the development of culture in the Center-South region and even in Angola, with training rooms for atelier.
Huambo provincial archive
As for the fate of the former Public Library, named by Constantino Camõli, inside the Future Cultural Centre, the Secretary of State announced its transformation into a Provincial Archive.
At the site, he said, all archival documents can be found, which portray the social and economic life of Huambo province.
In turn, the vice-governor for Technical Services and Infrastructures of Huambo province, Elmano Inácio Francisco, informed that the work is in the line of completion, with parity of 90 percent, both in terms of physical execution, and financial, lacking only a few competent audio/visual equipment for the theater rooms.
Center features
Built in an area of three hectares, at the confluence between Norton de Matos and Granja avenues, as well as the street that goes down towards Deolinda Rodrigues square, the infrastructure, whose works were consigned in September 2011 and resumed in 2022, after five years of stoppage, it will be composed of three cinema-theatres, with 500, 150 and 100 seats, respectively, two conference rooms, a space for the presentation of works of art, literature and music, two rooms for dance classes, an equal number for visual arts and handicrafts and one for exhibitions.
Once completed, it will also have 11 artistic and cultural specialty stores, two top-of-the-range restaurants, one of which is on the 2nd floor, overlooking the upper part of the city, two cafes facing the downtown area, areas of support for actors and musicians during their performances on stage and two rooms for music classes.
It will also have a bar, a police station, a refrigerator, a children’s playground, a drinks shop, two multipurpose rooms, an open-air restaurant with an area for shows, a covered pedestrian walkway, which will link the infrastructure to the Garden. of Culture, in addition to the Statue of Norton de Matos, founder of this region, as well as its four virtues (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance).
At the entrance to the centre, whose roof looks like smoke coming out of a locomotive’s chimney, in recognition of the contribution of the Benguela Railway (CFB) in promoting social, economic and cultural development, the user is faced with the first well in the city of Huambo, 25 meters deep, built in colonial times.
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