New Istana Negara to cost RM797m
The Istana Negara, or national palace, which is taking shape on a hilltop in a Kuala Lumpur suburb is an enormous complex of dome-topped buildings linked to the city's highways with special access roads.
The palace sprawls over a 100,000 square metre (one million square foot) site which was annexed in the 1990s in what has since become a prime residential area.
Works Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor said the palace is expected to be completed on June 30 next year.
The figure has risen from an earlier allocation of RM650 million, he said in a written reply yesterday after a query from the opposition.
"The additional allocation is needed to fulfil costs which were not included in the earlier contract, among them being the security system, utility payments and also interior decoration," he said.
The historic project also entails the construction of a highway flyover and an access road, at a cost of an extra RM138.5 million.
Malaysia's opposition has criticised the government's decision to award the development contract without a tender, and said the company which will handle the construction is controlled by a senior figure in the ruling party.
The Star daily said the government had explained that there was no open tender because the special project was subject to security considerations.
Malaysia has a unique rotating monarchy shared among nine sultans, who are the royal rulers and guardians of Islam in their respective states. They each take turns to rule for five years as the nation's king.
The current monarch, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin from Terengganu, was sworn in in 2006 at the age of 45, becoming Malaysia's second-youngest king ever.
His current palace is a colonial mansion built in the 1920s which was originally the home of a self-made ethnic-Chinese tycoon, and was later bought by the government.
- AFP
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