Damascus-SANA
Today, the People’s Assembly’s Budget and Accounts Committee discussed the investment budget of the Ministry of Culture and its affiliates for the year 2022, amounting to 6 billion and 500 million Syrian pounds.
The members demanded from the ministry to clarify the reason for the discrepancy in the percentages of achievement achieved in the current year’s budget for some projects, wondering why the budget allocated to equip the headquarters of the General Film Corporation and rehabilitate the infrastructure of some cultural centers was not implemented.
They also stressed the need to speed up the pace of work in rehabilitating archaeological sites destroyed by terrorism, especially the city of Palmyra, inquiring about national projects to restore antiquities and monuments destroyed by terrorism under the supervision of the Ministry.
In response to the members' questions, Minister of Culture Dr. Lubana Mushawah confirmed that the implementation rates will rise to more than 80 percent by the end of the year, as there are contracts that have been approved and signed, explaining that the estimated costs of the allocated projects rise successively, which hinders the implementation of many projects.
As for the reason for not implementing the budget allocated to some projects, she indicated that this is due to the high costs of implementing these projects.
With regard to the restoration of antiquities, Minister Mushawah referred to a joint project with the Russian Scientific Academy concerned with the rehabilitation of the Palmyra Temple, the Palmyra Museum and the Arc de Triomphe, which Russian friends pay special attention to.
