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Matthew Vella
November’s appointment with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is nearing closer but all is not well for the organisers of the opening event, Welcomevents and the host centre, the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.
The construction of a special stage for the 25 November gala has encountered a last-minute glitch as lack of funds and a complaint at the Department of Contracts appear to have stalled the process.
The stage is part of the tender obligations for organisers Welcomevents, a commercial offshoot of TV company Where’s Everybody, who were awarded the Lm49,500 government tender.
The tender also obliges the organisers to provide a special ‘cultural event stage’ which is expected to carry a complex water feature. All costs would however be borne by the CHOGM task force.
The Mediterranean Conference Centre is however hampered with trying to deliver the stage with just a handful of thousands of liri, deemed an impossible feat by contractors who have also placed their bids for the special stage.
“I’d like to see which madman is ready to do something like that,” Martin Pillow, director of Pillow Space Frame and a tenderer for the construction of the stage, told MaltaToday.
Pillow’s lawyers have informed the Department of Contracts of irregularities in a re-issued tender by the MCC, complaining about unorthodox procedures.
Recent events have in fact betrayed the lack of funds troubling the CHOGM spectacular: all turned to the worse last week when the MCC directors had to withdraw the stage tender, after receiving two bids of Lm75,000 and Lm90,000, far too high for the Lm20,000 the CHOGM task force was ready to fork out for the stage.
Chairman Peter Fenech was clueless as to what MCC would do next: “we shall see. I can’t tell you at this point. We have to wait.”
Shrugging off suggestions of financial problems, Fenech claimed the matter was also “technical”.
Equally as perplexed was Ambassador Salvu Stellini, the head of the CHOGM task force, who claimed he was unaware of the withdrawal of the tender for the important stage.
MCC re-issued the tender for the stage again this week for a smaller and modified stage however offering to cap its spend at Lm15,000 to ‘rent’ the stage.
“They want to build a complex, elliptical stage by renting it out for Lm15,000, which means we are to console ourselves with the fact that we can dismantle the stage and look for somebody else to pay us to let them use the stage,” Martin Pillow said.
Ambassador Stellini on Friday said the MCC would be responsible for the provision of the stage, and did not rule out having to fork out more cash for the CHOGM stage: “If we have to pay something extra as CHOGM date nears, we will not let everything fall apart.”
Journalist Lou Bondì, who is doubling up as chairman of the Welcomevents consortium, did not comment when asked how his show will be affected by the untimely cock-up. Bondì directed MaltaToday to ask all questions to government.
Bondì also headed the Welcomeurope consortium which organised the 1 May EU accession celebrations. As in last year’s EU spectacular, Welcomevents will be raking in revenues from corporate sponsorships.
The special stage for the CHOGM opening is expected to be constructed between the main stage – where Commonwealth monarchs and presidents will be seated – and the dress circle.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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