With the National Assembly returning to work on September 16, leading opposition Members of Parliament indicated at the weekend that they plan to call on Government to account for the changing budget figures for the project.

This move follows a report on Friday that the Ministry of Works now expects construction of the new State House in Windhoek's Auasblick neighbourhood to cost between N$468 million and N$550 million.

The Ministry's report is understood to have been submitted to Cabinet in April, when it was asked to approve additional funding for the project.

Budget figures for the project have varied over the years - from N$186 million quoted by former Prime Minister Hage Geingob in the National Assembly in April last year, to the N$264 million set out in Namibia's Second National Development Plan.

Now, though, according to the Afrikaans daily, Republikein, the Ministry of Works document on the project states that the expected price, for which spending of N$237 million had already been approved, would have to be increased by a further N$231 million, bringing the total cost to some N$468 million - making this one of the single most expensive public construction projects Government has embarked on since Independence.

Mansudae Overseas Projects, the same North Korean company that was appointed without tender to build the Heroes Acre monument in Windhoek, is doing the State House construction.

Heroes Acre also overran its initial budget, ended up costing about twice as much as had been initially expected.

QUESTIONS PLANNED

The various budgeted figures for the State House project are confusing and reflect either "cock-eyed" bookkeeping or that mistakes are being made in the budgeting process, Chairman of the DTA and the party's Shadow Finance Minister, Johan de Waal, said yesterday.

He said his party will definitely raise questions on the project in Parliament once the National Assembly resumes sitting.

The Congress of Democrats' Finance spokesman, National Assembly member Tsudao Gurirab, also said yesterday his party will pose questions on the issue once Parliament is in session.

He said his party is on record as opposing the project from the beginning because it considers it unnecessary.

That was one of the reasons why the party voted against the Office of the President's budget because the new State House project had started to appear in the budget in recent years, said Gurirab.

He added that last week's revelations about the expected cost of the project show that Government has been "less than honest" with the public.

The CoD will seriously consider whether the issue does not merit an investigation by the Ombudsman, in order to determine once and for all how much is set to be spent on the new State House, he said.

DTA COMMENTS

The DTA also issued a press statement on the matter at the weekend.

Describing itself as "shocked beyond words" about the latest revelations, the party commented: "There can be no justification for this Government to spend some N$500 million of the taxpayers' money on such a project while more than a third of the populace exists on about N$7 a day".

The party attributed this last figure, as an indication of poverty levels in Namibia, to the Namibia Red Cross Association.

According to the DTA, the State House project holds little real benefit for Namibia or for Windhoek as a city.

The party referred to claims that the increased price of the project is partly due to demands from "the end user" - understood to refer to the President - for additional office space to be added to the complex, for additional security measures and for guest quarters on the new State House premises to be upgraded Asked the DTA: "Why should he (the President) insist on a State House with a second Cabinet room and a parking garage of 3 600 square metres that costs N$190 million when he will no longer be president in 2005 or 2006 when this complex is scheduled for completion? Or should the public see this as a sign that Mr Nujoma does indeed plan to run for a fourth term, despite the Constitution and the many denials to date?" On the report that the new State House will also include a parking area for battle tanks, the party charged: "(D)oes he fear his own people so much that he thinks the presidential complex may have to withstand a siege in the future? This is certainly the impression being created with the insistence that a further 67 erven must be bought out to ensure the 'security' of the complex, when in most democracies the head of state lives securely amongst his or her people".

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