Anita Rachman – House Speaker Marzuki Alie confirmed on Friday that they have set a revised budget for the new building of the House of Representatives. He said that it will be built for less than Rp 1 trillion ($110,9 million).

The Household Affairs Committee (BURT) had initially proposed a Rp 1.8 trillion ($200 million) budget for the new building. The committee claimed that this was necessary to accommodate the increased number of staff members for each of the 560 lawmakers.

Original plans called for the building to include a pool, gym and sauna, which some lawmakers argued were necessary facilities. However, Marzuki said that the gym and the sauna will not be installed due to cost cutting.

"The pool is needed as a water reservoir to anticipate fire because it is a building with 36 floors. But the consultant said it would be a waste if we just used it as a reservoir, so why not use it into a swimming pool as well?," Marzuki said.

Budget for furniture and IT facilities will also be minimized. "I am sure it could [be trimmed] under Rp 1 trillion," Marzuki said. "We could save a lot from furniture and IT. I will ask the technical team to review it."

The new building plan is supervised under the legislature's Household Affairs Committee chaired by Marzuki.

Marzuki said that a new building was urgently needed because in the future, a legislator is projected to have a total of five advisers. At the moment, each of the 560 legislators only has one adviser and a personal assistant.

"About the urgency of this new office building, we have talked to all party factions, and none of them refused the plan," he said. "So I urged lawmakers not to dance over this issue for their own political purposes because all factions have agreed to the proposal."