On December 16, the People's Committee of Ninh Thuan province confirmed that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism had decided to stop organizing the 6th Cham Ethnic Cultural Festival (scheduled from December 20-22, 2024).
Previously, on December 11, Mr. Nguyen Long Bien - Vice Chairman of Ninh Thuan Provincial People's Committee - signed a document sent to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requesting to adjust the time of the festival.
Mr. Nguyen Long Bien explained that the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the consulting unit made some mistakes in preparing the bidding documents; two contractors sent complaints and recommendations about some criteria in the bidding documents (E-HSMT).
These errors occurred during the bidding process for the package of services to provide equipment installation, sound and lighting systems, and to perform the opening and closing art programs of the 6th Cham Ethnic Cultural Festival.
Up to now, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ninh Thuan province has issued a Decision to cancel the above bidding package.
Meanwhile, re-organizing the contractor selection process requires time; it takes time to perform the opening and closing art programs of the Festival, install the stage, sound and lighting equipment.
In addition, the work of mobilizing social funds to organize the event encountered many difficulties. Furthermore, the provinces participating in the Festival reported difficulties in mobilizing teams to participate in the performance.
The reason is that some of these localities are focusing on serving activities to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army and the 35th anniversary of the National Defense Day in the locality.
According to Mr. Nguyen Long Bien, there is not much time left to organize the Festival. If organized, the event will not ensure progress, quality, thoughtfulness, solemnity as well as success.
Based on this, the People's Committee of Ninh Thuan province has proposed that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism approve the adjustment of the time to organize the Festival in the first quarter of 2025 (expected to be combined with the Ramuwan Festival of the Cham people following Bani Islam and Islam in Ninh Thuan province).
