The Parliament Secretariat has started restructuring the halls at the International Convention Centre in New Baneshwor to accommodate the federal parliament that comprises the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.

The main hall, which has served as the seat of the Constituent Assembly since 2008, will now be used for the meetings of House of Representatives while the Nuptse Hall will host the National Assembly. The Secretariat has already started rearranging seats in the main hall which currently has 601 seats. But with the decrease in the electoral constituencies and the quota under the proportional representation system, only 275 will be elected to the House of Representatives.

The hall will now have a maximum of 334 seats to accommodate joint sessions of the lower and upper houses. The National Assembly will have 59 representatives—56 elected by the Electoral College and three nominated by the President on the government’s recommendation.

According to Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Bharat Raj Gautam, works are going on to remove two rows of chairs from the main hall as the existing chairs are much more than the needed.

The Secretariat is also changing the carpets and seat covers. Green is the choice of colour for carpet in the House of Representatives hall and red for the National Assembly. Besides, it is also replacing and adding a number of microphones for the two Houses. “We expect the restructuring works on the House of Representatives hall to be over by the second week of January,” Gautam told the Post. The works to set up the hall for the National Assembly have yet to start.

Gautam said that unlike the lower house, the upper house needs a rostrum, room for the chair and vice chair and their secretariat and separate space for the political parties. The Secretariat has sought Rs34.7 million for the restructuring project.

A study conducted by the Parliament Secretariat has estimated that Rs4.25 billion is required for the annual maintenance of the federal parliament and provincial assemblies.

A 12-member team under Joint Secretary Bharatraj Gautam came up with the details of estimated costs and other logistical requirements for the purpose. Salaries and allowances of members of both the Houses and costs of running the secretariats account for a major chunk of the expenditure which is estimated at Rs1.7 billion.

The Legislature-Parliament has been holding meetings at the ICC in New Baneshwor, while the Parliament Secretariat is located inside Singha Durbar.

The report says there is no alternative to holding meetings of the bicameral parliament in the same building.

Similarly, an annual expenditure on provincial lawmakers, Provincial Assembly Secretariat and logistical requirements is estimated at Rs2.55 billion. There will be unicameral Houses in seven provinces with a total of 550 provincial lawmakers.