News from Islands
Presidency to “move” to National Press building
The Presidency of the Republic will temporarily move to the National Press building just meters away from the Presidential Palace in Praia’s central Plateau district in order to allow restoration work to be carried out in the latter. According to Presidential Chief of Staff Manuel Faustino and General Director of State Patrimony Cristino Sanches, the relocation will take place in June and work on the Presidential Palace, which is being financed by the People’s Republic of China, is expected to begin in July.
Last week began, at the Presidential Palace, with noise and dust from the work being carried out by Chinese company IPPR. Faustino guarantees, however, that, despite the fact that it has “slightly affected” normal work, the technicians from the company are merely analyzing the surrounding land and carrying studies to verify soil resistance, among other things.
Faustino confirms that negotiations have been under way for the presidency to move to the National Press building by June, at the latest, but says that “the dossier is still being worked on alongside the government.”
Director General of State Patrimony Cristino Sanches confirms the negotiations, saying that “the space has already been identified and will be the National Press building. All that’s left is to determine the amount of the rent to be paid. The process is moving along normally, in accordance with the law, but will still be negotiated and analyzed by both sides,” says Sanches. In any case, the President and his staff must provisionally leave the Presidential Palace by June so that work on the building may begin in July as scheduled.
The remodeling of the Presidential Palace, which was built in the 19th Century to house the governors of the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde, was agreed to during the administration of former President Pedro Pires. Work is expected to take 30 months to be completed.
