The cost of the White House Ballroom rises to $600 million, report reveals
The White House Ballroom is under construction
The cost of the White House Ballroom continues to rise and it was reported that it would already be around $600 million, half of which would be covered with public money, according to a report presented by The Washington Post.
When he presented the project in the middle of last year, President Donald Trump established an estimated cost of $200 million to develop it and that the money would come from donations from business groups.
It was said that it would consist of 90,000 square feet taken from the East Wing of the White House, as it was designed to seat 650 people.
However, the work has been modified along the way and now it is even mentioned that it would be able to accommodate up to 1,000 guests.
In addition, it could include an underground military bunker, as well as the possibility of having a port for attack drones designed to protect not only the people who are in the White House, but a large part of the population living in Washington, D.C., the latter would be located on the roof of the Ballroom.
According to The Washington Post, these demands have tripled the cost of the work.
The newspaper points out that for the construction by the company Clark Construction - a company based in Virginia - officials proposed obtaining $293 million dollars from "private sources" to finance the project, while $155 million dollars would allegedly be raised from funds from the Secret Service, $149 million dollars from the White House Military Office and $3 million dollars from the Executive Residence, the latter three sources financed with taxpayer money.
In fact, Trump had asked Congress for $1 billion to improve Ballroom security through a budget reconciliation bill which was rejected by the Senate.
Despite the controversy, the 80-year-old Republican insists that the cost of the work will be assumed by more than two dozen corporations, including the main American technology companies such as: Apple, Amazon, Meta and Google.
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