Expert team surveys President's House, restoration can cost $70M

Works Minister Jack Warner has sourced $2.5 million to put a temporary roof on the annex to the President's House, which collapsed on May 16. He made the announcement Friday after visiting the collapsed structure.

However, experts believe that it would take about $70 million to restore the historic state buildings to their former state.

Warner toured the facilities along with a seven-member committee working on plans to restore the structure. The team includes Andrew Lawrence, former president of Citizens for Conservation.

"It's unfortunate that we have come to this with our historic buildings, and this is not the only one, but it's one of the more important, if not the most important structure, and as a people we should not be afraid of the fact that we have failed" Lawrence told reporters after the tour.

Conservationists claim that the Manning administration allowed the building to rot and urged Warner to begin reconstruction and not to consider demolishing the structure and building a new one.

Tearing down the building, they argue, would be to destroy an important part of the country's history. Experts who inspected the rubble said the first impression they have got is that they can restore the building.