Orapa House renovation costs shoot up
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday February 3, 2017 15:43
According to available data from the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration (MoPAGPA), infrastructure project needs to be increased from P34 million to P120.1 million to cater for Orapa House refurbishment, Mmegi has learnt. The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Kenneth Matambo is expected to deliver his budget speech next week Monday.
The refurbishment was supposed to commence and be completed during NDP 10 but the project did not proceed as per schedule hence being carried over to NDP 11.
In 2015, Government’s controversial decision to suspend and reverse the refurbishment of 11,000m2 floor space of President Ian Khama’s new offices, Orapa House, attracted a lawsuit from a citizen contractor. Orapa House has been plagued in controversy for some time after the Government expressed intention to buy it.
The building was to be bought at a negotiated cost of P79 million. In 2012 the then Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mokgweetsi Masisi, withdrew his request in Parliament for funds to buy Orapa House from De Beers after details emerged that the building could be belonging to the Botswana government. Masisi advised Matambo, to take up the matter and investigate it. Masisi later confirmed that, “the house has been fully paid for and now belongs to the Government”.
Masisi withdrew his proposal following a decision by the Finance and Estimates Committee not to approve the funds request. This was after the intervention by the then Tati West MP, Charles Tibone, who argued that Botswana government may find itself buying a building that actually belongs to the tax payer already.
The government had wanted to buy Orapa House for “a negotiated P79 million” but the Finance and Estimates Committee rejected the request because of the inconsistencies realised in the supporting documents of the proposed procurement. The valuation of the building was put at P74 million. The Ministry of Lands and Housing had initially offered De Beers P73 million as purchase price. However, De Beers countered with a P85 million price but final price was then P79 million.