Assembly Building
The new Assembly Building is getting there.
Labour blogs
Welsh blogs
UK blogs
World blogs
City links
Leighton Andrews
Assembly Member for the Rhondda
Assembly Member for the Rhondda
Leighton's Updates
Leighton
Recent comments
Archives...
Categories...
- BBC (7)
- BBC Wales (15)
- Censorship (11)
- Culture (10)
- Current Affairs (150)
- Cymraeg (22)
- Devolution (4)
- Election 2007 (31)
- Election 2008 (1)
- Football (83)
- General (53)
- History (5)
- Housing (4)
- IT (3)
- Labour (80)
- Likelytobecensored (7)
- map (1)
- Media (98)
- Music (2)
- National Assembly (145)
- Old blog archive (146)
- Rhondda (389)
- Technology (2)
- TV archive (34)
- US Politics (2)
- Wales (99)
Posts
9 comments:
At what price?
At a justifiable price for a building of this significance! It will be the centre of Welsh Government and democracy as well as a showpiece from which we can promote Wales as a place to do business.
.
Was the price justifiable at both its initial budget cost of £10 million and at its final, fantasticaly over budget cost of £67 million?
What final cost over budget would not be justifiable in your view?
.
.
'The competition set out a functional specification for the building, and a price limit of £12 million including fees'.
www.wales.gov.uk/assemblybuilding/projectupdate/press6.htm
The future of the new £23m Welsh Assembly building was thrown into turmoil after the project was put on hold
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/686722.stm
The bill for the controversial structure in Cardiff Bay is set to reach almost £60 million
Details of the latest costs were provided by Labour's Finance Minister Sue Essex - and include a VAT bill of more than £7 million, plans to spend £6.7 million on computer equipment and another £1.6 million on furniture.
www.conservatives.com/wales/story.cfm?obj_id=117286
So, when I, as a voter and taxpayer, express a little concern about the way the project costs have soared, I wonder if all elected members of the Assembly think it worth glossing over and telling me it's justifiable no matter what the expense and now matter how badly the project's been handled?
The building costs have changed partly because of increased security since 9/11. You are entitled to moan about it, but only the Tories in Wales and Peter Law voted against it when the vote was held in 2003, after I was elected, by which time a lot of money had already been spent, and more money would have had to be committed to compensation if the contract was cancelled. See my speech in the Assembly.
So what proportion of the additional £50 million, do you think, is attributable to 'increased security'? Any idea?
.
.
Security : £2.6 million
According to this document:
www.walesoffice.gov.uk/2005/foi/foi_20050218_1.pdf
which seems to have been released under the FOI, the additional cost for extra security provision was £2,600,000.
So that's the security you mention. What accounts for the other £48 million extra.
Call it a moan if that's how you wish to deal with quite reasonable concerns about what looks like serious project mismanagement and complacency. But what's the answer?
.
.
.
History of costs posted at:
http://www.assemblyonline.org/node/166
feel free to comment
.
.
.
Post a Comment