Parliament upgrading work hikes to RM600 million

Works Minister Fadillah Yusof said the cost of upgrading and renovating the Parliament building has increased by RM80 million as compared with the cost of RM520 arrived at at earlier.

Fadillah is quoted by theSun today as saying that the increase in cost was inevitable as additional works have been added to the initial plan, causing the total cost escalate to RM600 million.

"The increase is due to re-measurements and additional technical works. For example, now Parliament has a second chamber. It was not there in the original design," he is reported as saying.

This will cause the project to be completed in 2020 instead of in 2018, Fadillah  (photo) said.

"A detailed design should commence sometime in 2017 and construction works could begin by mid-2018 and the completion target is 2020.

"There is a need to fully vacate the tower block and relocate the offices to a temporary block," he said.

This comes after a few incidents of massive roof leakings and electrical wiring faults at the old building that hit the news headlines back then.

The Parliament building, which was built in September 1962, has been plagued by series of electrical wiring faults and infamous roof leaks in 2007.

In 2010, the government mooted to build a new Parliament house in the administrative capital of Putrajaya, at a cost of RM800 million.

However, the new plan did not materialise after MPs cried foul over the plan to shift Parliament to Putrajaya.

After this, the government explained that it needed only RM150 million to repair the existing Parliament building and that it had already undergone an RM100 million renovation then.

Senate president SA Vigneswaran, who checked on the renovation works in May, said the RM520 million refurbishment work of Parliament building would be completed in February 2017.

Fadillah said Phase 2 of the renovation project, which involves the upgrading of the main building and related areas, is expected to be completed by January 2017.

Phase 3, which involves the construction of a new block to include the offices of MPs, ministries and administrative offices, is expected to be completed by December 2018.- Mkini