During the Parliament session yesterday (28 August), it was revealed that the government has allegedly spent RM30 million on renovating Seri Perdana, the Prime Minister’s official residence.
The matter was raised by Pokok Sena Member of Parliament (MP), Datuk Mahfuz Omar after he sought justification for the spending at a time when Malaysians are suffering from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In response, the Prime Minister said the renovation works at Seri Perdana are necessary to ensure safety, as well as to preserve the country’s image during visits by key dignitaries.
He added that the improvements include electrical wiring and mechanical work, as well as work on the air-conditioning systems and structural modifications to the official residential block.
Meanwhile, the old and dilapidated furniture were replaced in accordance with the status of Seri Perdana.
Ismail also said that the the progress of the renovation is at 60% as of 31 August.
Nonetheless, the Opposition MPs were not impressed by the response and the Segambut MP, Hannah Yeoh had in a press conference in the Parliament yesterday (28 August) said the reply was not good enough as Ismail had provided a list of only three sets of expenditure on the office renovations.
“That was just for the Prime Minister’s Department. The public deserves to know how many ministers have used the people’s money to renovate their offices.
“If the cost of renovating the three offices in one building came to more than RM1 million, imagine the total amount of renovations for the whole Cabinet.
“Thus, it is the responsibility of the ministers or prime minister to get all these answers and the Speaker’s (Azhar Harun) job to coordinate the questions.” she said, as reported by FMT.
Yeoh added that the RM30 million spent on renovations at Seri Perdana could have been used to buy food baskets to more than 200,000 families in 70 parliamentary constituencies.
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Watch the press conference here:
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