RM1.76m to maintain Seri Perdana

File photo of the public lining up to enter Seri Perdana for the Hari Raya open house last year.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — Upkeep for the official residences of the prime minister, deputy prime minister and ministers in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) cost RM3.4 million last year, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has said.

The government spent RM1.76 million running Seri Perdana, the prime minister’s sprawling residence in Putrajaya, and RM1.59 million to maintain the deputy prime minister’s Sri Satria residence.

Residences of the five ministers in the PMO cost RM60,000 to maintain during the same period.

“As a symbol of the institution of prime minister and progressive, modern government, it is fitting that the Seri Perdana complex be kept in tip-top condition to preserve the country’s honour and image,” Nazri said in his reply to Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming in the Dewan Rakyattoday.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department also revealed the government spent RM4.4 million in 2010 to renovate Seri Perdana to make it fit for public visits.

He said this was in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s wish to make the sprawling complex a key tourist attraction for Putrajaya.

The Najib administration has reportedly set aside RM65 million to renovate Seri Perdana over the next two years. - Malaysian Insider