Money problems for Faro Capital of Culture

THE ORGANISERS of Faro Capital of Culture have revealed that the project does not have sufficient funding to realise an adequate programme. In comments made to the media, António Rosa Mendes, the project’s commissioner, declared that the situation was caused when the previous government, led by Santana Lopes, cut the funding by 21.4 per cent due to a law that allowed it to prevent damage to the country’s general budget. Rosa Mendes has already requested a meeting with officials from the new government in order to retrieve the 1.1 million euros that was cut previously. This, he believes, is essential to the project that, at the moment, is limited to a budget of 2.7 million euros, which he says is insufficient and will not allow a quality event to be staged. Rosa Mendes also revealed that he intends to ask for the Capital of Culture programme to be extended until the middle of 2006. This would compensate for the delay of four months in starting the initiative, which is only foreseen to begin on April 30.