Tintenpalast no longer good enough

THE Tintenpalast’s days as the home of the National Assembly are numbered, as Government intends spending millions of tax dollars to build a new parliament.
A total of N$500 000 has been set aside in the Development Budget this financial year for a feasibility study, as well as the drawing and approval of architectural plans.

‘The aim of the project is to construct a new Parliament building to provide adequate and appropriate office space for members of the National Assembly,’ the Budget states.’This has been coming a long time,’ Jakes Jacobs, secretary to the National Assembly, said yesterday afternoon. ‘The building has been good to us, but it is too small,’ he said.Jacobs said the building of a new parliament is a mere reality, and not extravagance on the part of Government.Details on the cost, location and timeframe of the project are sparse. ‘The feasibility study will be the deciding factor,’ Jacobs said.The decision comes as Government continues to spend millions on the upgrading and renovation of the existing Parliament building, which started in 2010. The project is scheduled for completion next year at a total cost of about N$39 million.The budget motivation for giving the colonial Tintenpalast a new look is to ‘create a conducive working environment’. For this, the taxpayer will have to pay N$5,5 million in 2012-13. Among others, this will settle the bill for more shaded parking bays, as well as new tiles in the Parliament entrance and restaurant. The money will also pay for renovations to Speaker Theo-Ben Gurirab’s administrative offices and his room in the chamber.Government has also already spent an estimated N$33 million on the renovations, among others on the Swapo wing offices for partitions, floors and suspended ceilings.