LAST WEEK I wrote about the squandering of public funds by the government and gave some examples. I referred to the purchase of Russian tanks at a cost of €100 million and the proposed construction of the Paphos-Polis highway which was estimated to cost close to one billion euro.

This week, Alecos Constantinides in his Alithia column reminded us of another case of money squandering – the Culture Centre. It is a project that is out of place and time, without rational justification and with the potential to develop into one of the biggest public money-wasting exercises in the history of this state.

According to an announcement by the Culture Centre, the total cost of the project is estimated to be in the region of €110 million. Its total floor space would be 22,150 square metres with two auditoriums – one with 1,370 seats and the other with 440 – restaurants, cafιs, VIP suites, etc.

“The project would be a heritage for the future generations of our country,” said the manager of the Centre, Tasos Angeli. He has a point, as only future generations might need such a centre. Today’s Cypriots are not particularly interested in arts and culture, which makes you wonder who the Centre would be serving.

According to Costas Kafkarides, the secretary of an independent theatre company, every person who goes to a Cyprus Theatre Organisation performance is subsidised by state to the tune of €25. Thus is how difficult it is to get Cypriot bums on seats for stage productions. It is estimated that the Culture Centre would incur an annual operational loss of €5 million, the tab for which would be picked up by the taxpayer.

The man behind this grandiose project is Kikis Lazarides, who in July 2009 informed us that his Culture Centre “would be a jewel and make Nicosia known to the whole world.” This pompous comment alone is enough to show the level of seriousness of this story. We will put Dubai in the shade, as everyone would forget about its 828-metre tall, tower and turn their attention to Lazarides’ edifice, the new world attraction.

As a business leader Lazarides has cost the taxpayer quite a bit of money. As chairman of Cyprus Airways, in 1992 he set up the charter airline Eurocypria, which he now wants to be closed down. These two airlines, in the last 20 years, have accrued losses for the state – in other words, the taxpayer – in the region of €150 million. Several years ago, Lazarides assumed the chairmanship of Cyprus Airways once again. Only in a country like ours do these things happen.

The man who lumbered us with Eurocypria is now hell-bent on realising another crazy dream for which the taxpayer will once again pick up the tab. In pursuing his quest, he has displayed arrogance and contempt for objections to the project. Interestingly, a group of 272 people involved in the arts have expressed their opposition and signed a statement explaining that this project is not necessary and should not have been given priority when other smaller projects were left unfinished.

President Christofias ignored this plea and sided with Lazarides, at a time when finance minister Charilaos Stavrakis was travelling abroad to secure loans for limiting the fiscal deficit. Incidentally, Stavrakis also described the Culture Centre as a ‘vanity project’ we could not afford, but his view was ignored by the president.