President William Ruto on Thursday, April 25, officially opened the 28-storey Bunge Towers.
The building is set to facilitate the operations of 349 lawmakers and 67 senators in the 13th Parliament.
Conceived in 2009, the tower was initially set to cost taxpayers Ksh5.89 billion, but the amount was hiked to Ksh9.6 billion. Critics, alleged misuse of public resources and questioned whether Kenyans got value for their money.
During the launch, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula hailed the completion of the tower's construction bragging that it was better than the House of Commons in the United Kingdom.
Kenyans.co.ke takes a look at the features of the Bunge Tower.
Before and After Photos of Bunge Tower
Design: Bunge Tower's architectural design incorporates a replica of the shield featured in the Kenyan flag and engraved in Parliament Buildings.
This symbolizes protection, strength, resilience and the collective identity of diverse Kenyan communities.
Features
The tower consists of 331 dedicated offices for senators and legislators to facilitate their operations. The building has 26 Committee rooms located on the first, second, third and fifth floors which are fitted with advanced audio-visual and conference management systems.
Additionally, four committee rooms are fitted with video conference facilities to enable remote presentations.
The first floor consists of; a Parliament Library equipped with a collection of 50,000 documents, reports, Standing Orders, Hansard, books, Sets of Laws of Kenya, Bills, Auditor General Reports and policy papers.
The office block building consists of four basements, 27 floors, six escalators, six lifts, two vehicular and pedestrian tunnels and 350 parking slots.
The building will also have two restaurant spaces, a fully equipped kitchen and a gym.
In line with the government's efforts to embrace green energy, the tower has a rainwater harvesting system and solar water heating panels on the 27th floor.
For persons with disabilities, the building has wheelchair ramps at several access points to facilitate ease of movement.
