DPWH: New Senate building to cost from P25B to P27B

BILLION-PESO PROJECT The new Senate building being built in Taguig as of July last year based on a photo posted by the DPWH on its Facebook page. —photo from DPWH

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) confirmed on Wednesday that the total estimated cost of the new Senate building under construction in Taguig City might reach between P25 billion and P27 billion, considering the inflation rate and current prices of construction materials.

During a hearing conducted by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, chair of the Senate committee on accounts, the DPWH said the cost of Phase 3 of the project would increase by 20 percent to 25 percent if recomputed to reflect today’s prices.

“To my estimate, from the time the project was bid out, more or less 20 to 25 percent [more]. It would reach P25 billion to P27 billion, including the cost of land,” said former DPWH Undersecretary Antonio Molano Jr.

READ: ‘Nabuang ka na ‘day’: Heated debate, walkout mar Senate building inquiry

Cayetano noted that the previous price of P23.3 billion, which he and Binay had argued about in the July 3 hearing, was based on 2021 rates and did not reflect the current cost of construction materials. Binay had insisted that the project cost was a little over P21 billion.

“Sen. Binay and I argued about the cost. Total project cost was over P23 billion, total construction cost P21.7 billion. We were both right … ,” he said.

Senseless argument

“In better, cooler heads, including myself, we can come to those numbers. The problem is … I realized that the prices were outdated. So what we’ve been arguing about is senseless because the total building cost has already exceeded P23 billion,” he added.

Cayetano also apologized to the public over what happened during last week’s hearing when he engaged in a heated argument with Binay, resulting in the latter filing an ethics complaint against him before the Senate ethics committee on Monday.

“I want to apologize especially to the viewers. You know when emotions are high, arguments happen. But we’ll deal with that issue later on,” he said.

“Let’s keep our eyes on the ball first. Let’s focus on how we’ll finish the project that is beautiful and with the right cost at soonest possible time. That’s the purpose of this hearing,” he added.