Construction workers at the PM's residence in St. Ann'sThe question has been asked over and over again but Members of Parliament - and the nation - still don't have the answer: What was the final cost of the Prime Minister's official residence and diplomatic centre in St Ann's?
The opposition has been asking the question and on Tuesday the Manning administration failed, for the 12th time, to provide the information although the question has been on the Senate's agenda since March.
When it came up again on Tuesday, this is what Minister of Finance Mariano Browne had to say: “The numbers for this particular project are now complete and we expect to have the answer within the week.”
With that the matter was once more deferred for another week, perhaps more. The cost that government provided when the buildings were handed over was $148 million.
But the Trinidad Guardian reported last month that the Urban Development Corporation (UDeCOTT), which managed the project, had confirmed that additional work was done on since its completion.
This included construction of an administration centre, a garage and “security related features.”
However UDeCOTT, has declined the paper's requests to give the cost of the additions or to state whether the Shanghai Group, which built the million-dollar facility, also handled construction of the additions.
Government sources had confirmed to the Guardian in June that the due to the additions, as well as costs from VAT and other taxes, the $148 million cost for the facility may be off by some $70 million. They estimated the final cost to be around $225 million.
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