The plans for the Official Prime Minister's home to be built by the Qarase led government has been made public with estimates of the costs for the construction of the official residence.
Plans that were prepared for the proposed new residence back in November 2006 have been revealed with estimates for the construction of the home and various facilities.
The total amount stands at $6.44 million dollars.
The estimates include $1.4 million for the construction of a 892.5 square meter Public Entertainment area, a semi private residence costing $1.52 million, a swimming pool valued at $400,000, a $130,000 bose vakatunuloa or meeting house, a $140,000 driveway and car parking area, a $150,000 security system, a stand by generator and pump worth $120,000, consultancy fees amounting to $585,500, mechanical services amounting to $200,000 and a 1,675 meters block work boundary fence valued at $850,000.
The design plans were made in November 2006 and the estimates are based on requests forwarded in September last year when Qarase was in power.
There were no approved figures in place for the official house to be built so I do not know why there is a lot of fuss over the plan to build an official residence for the Prime Minister.
Those are the words of Ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase who said that the Interim Prime Minister should realize that plans were not even drawn up for the new residence.
However, Qarase said that he was not aware of what the officials at the PM's office were working on as far as the new residence is concerned.
Qarase also revealed that the house would not be his personal property but an assest of the Government and the Interim Administration should consider carrying this out.
Former Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister's office, Jioji Kotobalavu has clarified that proper planning for the official residence of the Prime Minister was not complete last year.
He told Village News this morning that a piece of land was identified and $1 million was allocated in this year’s budget by the ousted SDL government for initial works at the site.
Qarase had said in a Fijian interview earlier this week that the construction of the house would have cost $500, 000 to $1 million.
In this interview he said that he does not know where the $6.4 million figure came from as according to him the cost was $500,000 to $1 million.
Kotobalavu confirms the $6.4 million highlighted for the complex could only be an estimate.
Both Qarase and Kotobalavu could not confirm the total amount of money that would have been used to construct the Official PM's residence. Kotobalavu said only the preparatory works would have cost $1 million.
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