MANILA – The ongoing review on the new Senate building project is expected to conclude in August, Senate President Francis Escudero said Friday.
In a press conference, the lawmaker said the Senate Committee on Accounts, headed by Senator Alan Cayetano, will cap its inquiry into the New Senate Building (NSB) in mid-August “at the latest” and issue the corresponding recommendations in the same month.
“Ipagbibigay alam namin ‘yan sa mga miyembro upang kuhanin din ang kanilang opinyon at pananaw. Kabilang na at importanteng bahagi doon ay ‘yong halaga para matapos at makumpleto na ‘yan at timetable para kung kailan kami tunay na makakalipat na ng buong buo (After that, we will inform all senators to get their opinions. Included in that is the cost and the timeline),” Escudero said, adding he has no new directive for the Senate panel.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the NSB’s project manager, earlier disclosed that the total estimated cost of the project was based on 2021 rates and does not reflect the present cost of materials.
It was estimated that its current cost of PHP23.37 billion could reach up to PHP25 billion to PHP27 billion.
On Thursday, Cayetano said this projection could increase.
"The PHP25-27 billion [projected cost of NSB] could be a little bit conservative pa pala (it seems)," Cayetano said after receiving more documents from relevant stakeholders for thorough review.
"Developing yung story. This week kasi I found out na maraming tinatago sa atin.
Kung sino ang nagtatago at bakit tinatago, I haven't gotten to that [yet] but we finally received caches na halos half room full of documents and we're getting through it (This is a developing story because I found out this week that there are a lot to uncover)," he added. (PNA)
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