By Mmangaliso Khumalo.
Parliament is being rebuilt at an estimated cost of R4.4 billion following the devastating fire that gutted the National Assembly in January 2022.
This was confirmed during a detailed presentation by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to the Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament on Friday.
According to the Group Executive for Infrastructure Delivery at the DBSA, Chuene Ramphele, the project encompasses the full reconstruction of both the National Assembly and Old Assembly buildings, demolition work, infrastructure upgrades, and the development of new office spaces at 90 Plein Street.
“Ultimately, the entire programme of Parliament is at a cost of around R4.4 billion… So far, we’ve already spent, with what has been happening, what we’ve done, R574 million.”
-Construction progress and timeline-
The National Assembly rebuild, which carries a price tag of R2.27 billion, is already underway. However, much of the work remains invisible to the public as it focuses on substructure development.
“We are now in the basement, starting to deal with the structural foundations, beginning to build up from that point,” said Ramphele.
“This building is going to sustain every little weather condition that we look at, because we want to build a climate-resilient Parliament.”
The project involves the casting of 40 deep support columns, of which 14 have already been completed. Twelve of these columns will form the structural core of the new National Assembly chamber.
“We are adding another two floors plus the roof at the top, which has never existed before,” he added.
The Old Assembly, which was also damaged, will undergo a heritage-sensitive restoration costing R1.3 billion, and is set to be completed by early 2027.
Both chambers are expected to be fully commissioned and ready for use by February 2027, in time for that year’s State of the Nation Address.
-Temporary office expansion-
To ensure continued functionality, 155 temporary offices have already been created, with plans for an additional 55 offices and 3 committee rooms to be completed by August 2025.
Parliament has identified four floors in 90 Plein Street for this expansion.
“Partitioning has been done. Now we’re dealing with electricals, air conditioning and ICT just to network it,” said Ramphele.
While the project remains on track, officials warned that delays in vacating certain office floors could pose a short-term risk to the refurbishment schedule.
The blaze that destroyed much of Parliament occurred on 2 January 2022, and it took three days for firefighters to extinguish the flames.
Zandile Mafe was arrested at the scene and faces charges of arson and terrorism. He is currently under psychiatric evaluation at Valkenberg Hospital.