Parliament will by the end of the year begin the construction of a new chamber block that will have the capacity to seat up to 450 members of parliament.
The new structure to be located right in front of the premises of the current parliamentary chamber will take three years to build.
Renowned Ghanaian – British international architect Sir David Frank Adjaye of Adjaye and Associates has designed the new structure and will oversee its construction.
He paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of Parliament Prof. Mike Ocquaye on Friday during which the design for the structure was unveiled to the media.
The current parliamentary chamber which can seat up to only 270 MPs will be turned into an auxiliary conference facility for parliament.
The new structure is expected to have libraries, a parliamentary museum, prayer areas for MPs of all religions, a canteen, interview areas, among others.
Prof. Ocquaye says there is a lot of goodwill from the executive arm government for the new parliamentary chamber project and “the president has agreed in principle to come and cut the sod for the project.”
Both the Majority Leader Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu and Minority Leader Harun Iddrisu expressed support for the new chamber project.
Haruna Iddrisu advocated that a diplomatic room for former Presidents and Speakers of Parliament be included in the structure.
“We look forward to doing what we need to do internally to get this project going,” Mr Iddrisu said.
“I am impressed by what I have seen,” Mr Mensah Bonsu said.
The man building the new structure says it will be a great edifice.
“It’s really a new wonderful way to show the incredible ark of history of the Ghanaian parliament and that will be visible for all to see,” Sir David Adjaye said during the meeting.
Leave a Reply