The “burying room” beneath the tower should be converted into a museum, according to the lieutenant speaker.
According to a lieutenant House speaker, a restoration of the political conference space is necessary to reduce the amount of money that committees now spend on renting hotel rooms for seminars.
The budget proposal for the roughly 1.2 billion ringgit to restore the Sappaya-Sapasathan building for fiscal 2026 was criticized by Paradorn Prissanananthakul.
He claimed that his supervision covers three tasks.
The collection and political gallery renovations cost a total of 120 million baht, and the audio system in the 1,500-seat conference room, which cost a total of 99 million baht.
” I will individually monitor the process and all of the costs will be interesting,” he said.
He claimed that the museum’s goal was to create a place that would showcase the history of the UK and promote public knowledge. According to Mr. Paradorn, this is required, and that 5, 000 to 6, 000 flat feet have already been reserved.
Mr. Paradorn agreed that the gallery space is now an unoccupied and unusable room in response to criticism MPs who referred to it as a “burial chamber” beneath the building.
Consequently, he has requested that a design team make it a lively and visible museum. He noted that” I privately don’t want to see a monument under parliament either.”
He also defended strategies to rebuild the meeting room, which is intended for use by House and Senate commissions. It was a part of the original programs, but it was never developed.
Boards currently pay to rent hotel rooms for seminars, he said, so a budget planning may be requested to carry out the plan rather than leave it unattended.
The funds that was originally scheduled to be 160 to 170 million baht has already been reduced to 99 million ringgit.
The 2026 budget bill is still in its review period, according to Mr. Paradorn, and it will likely go before the legislative program later this month.
The plans may be thoroughly evaluated by a committee of Members and outside experts. Cuttings can be made if any project is found to be unprofitable, he said, giving the assurance that the expenditure has not been finalized however.
When asked why a five-year-old structure needs significant renovation, he responded that some places could be much used while others were still unfinished and required completion, such as the meeting hall.
He questioned whether the building’s construction assurance was still in effect, and said the requested funds was not for maintenance but for additions.
Mr. Paradorn claimed that some of the building’s components have not yet been finished, and this will need to be completed in upcoming aspects.
Given the intense regular use of the tower by thousands of people, Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has also defended the renovations, according to local media reviews.
Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc, which is owned by the Charnvirakul home, built the Sappaya-Sapasathan developing despite Mr. Anutin’s ties to the business.
The tower was actually scheduled to open in late 2015, but the development contract was awarded in 2013. But, Sino-Thai was forced to request many additions, and the resources ballooned from 13 billion to 24 billion.
The tower was suddenly opened for political meetings in August 2019, but it didn’t become a formally-owned creating until July 2024.
Many complaints have been made since the building’s construction began, including leaky roofs, faulty liquid pipelines, and, in some cases, missing materials.