House room renovation should only have cost Rp 2.7b: Honorary Council

The renovation of a House of Representatives budget committee room should only have cost around Rp 2.7 billion, far less than the Rp 20.3 billion that had been splashed out on the works, the House Honorary Council has said.

“According to the government’s standard it (the cost of the renovation) is Rp 2.7 billion. Anything more than that is considered expensive,” Honorary Council chief M Prakosa said Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

Prakosa said that the cost of renovation had inflated because there had been additional purchases for the room such as various furniture, special lamps, sound system and CCTVs.

The Honorary Council was of the opinion that such excessive spending for a mere renovation was unacceptable, he said.

“We now have to find out where this excessive specification (for the renovation) came from,” he said.

Last week, House general secretary Nining Indra Saleh revealed that the House had budgeted Rp 20.3 billion for the renovation of its budget committee room.

The fund, she said, was spent to renovate and expand the capacity of the budget committee room, as well as renew several of the room’s facilities. (awd)