A renovation of the parliamentary conference room is necessary to reduce the amount of money spent by committees that currently have to rent hotel rooms for seminars, according to a deputy House speaker.
Paradorn Prissanananthakul was responding to criticism of a budget proposal for nearly 1.2 billion baht to renovate the Sappaya-Sapasathan building for fiscal 2026.
He said three projects fall under his oversight.
They include the renovation of the library and parliamentary museum, with a total allocation of 120 million baht, and improvement of the sound system in the 1,500-seat conference room, at a cost of 99 million baht.
“All of the expenditure will be worthwhile and I will personally monitor the process,” he said.
For the museum, he said the aim was to create a space showcasing parliament’s history and promoting public education. Mr Paradorn said this is necessary and that 5,000 to 6,000 square metres have already been set aside.
In response to opposition MPs who described the museum space as a “burial chamber” beneath the building, Mr Paradorn agreed the area is currently an empty and unusable room.
Therefore, he has asked a design team to transform it into a vibrant and accessible museum. “I personally don’t want to see a tomb under parliament either,” he noted.
He also defended plans to renovate the conference hall, which is intended for use by House and Senate committees. It was included in the original plans but it was never developed.
A budget allocation will be requested to proceed with the plan instead of leaving it idle, especially as committees now pay to rent hotel venues for seminars, he said.
The initially proposed budget of 160–170 million baht has already been trimmed to 99 million baht.
Mr Paradorn said the 2026 budget bill is still at the draft stage and is scheduled to face a parliamentary session later this month.
A committee of MPs and outside experts will assess the plans in detail. If any project is found to be not worthwhile, cuts can be made, he said, assuring the public the budget has not been finalised yet.
When asked why a five-year-old building requires major work, he said some areas can be better used and others remain incomplete and need to be finished as planned, such as the conference hall.
Quizzed on whether the building’s construction warranty was still valid, he said the requested budget was not for repairs but for extensions.
Mr Paradorn said some parts of the building have not yet been completed and this will need to be done in subsequent phases.
Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has also defended the renovations, given the heavy daily use of the building by thousands of people, according to local media reports.
The Sappaya-Sapasathan building was built by Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc, which is controlled by the Charnvirakul family although Mr Anutin no longer has any ties to the company.
The construction contract was awarded in 2013 and the building was originally scheduled to open in late 2015. However, Sino-Thai had to seek numerous extensions and the budget ballooned from 13 billion baht to 24 billion baht.
The building was finally opened in August 2019 for parliamentary meetings but it was not formally handed over to the government until July 2024.
Ever since the building opened, there have been numerous complaints, including leaking roofs, faulty water pipes, and in some cases, some materials that were not specified in the contracts.