Bucharest’s main concert hall, Sala Palatului, won’t be renovated in time for the 2019 edition of the George Enescu International Festival, the biggest cultural event in Romania.

The Culture Ministry hasn’t started the renovation program according to plan and the Government decided to transfer the hall back to the state agency in charge with managing state real estate assets – RA-APPS, according to an emergency ordinance adopted last week, Profit.ro reported.

After a ten-year long ping pong between the Culture Ministry and RA-APPS, the Government decided in 2016 that Sala Palatului would be renovated by the Culture Ministry and the costs, estimated at over EUR 30 million, would be covered with a loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB). The Government decided that the solution proposed for refurbishing this venue was not viable. However, the hall may still be revamped as the Government also adopted a EUR 1 billion multi-annual program for investments in cultural objectives.

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