The new Government led by Luís Montenegro accused the previous Executive of not having prepared the transfer of ministries to the headquarters of Caixa Geral de Depósitossuggesting that little or nothing was done.
“The change was not prepared and therefore This Government has a dossier to analyze in detail and accomplish a lot that had not been done“, declared the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro after the first meeting of the Council of Ministers of the new Executive.
The process of transferring ministries had begun almost three years ago, but the completion schedule fell several times behind. And, according to the assessment made by the new Government, there are not yet conditions for this to happen.
“Neither the building nor the transfer was in a condition for the Government to be operational”, stated the Minister of the Presidency. Giving a concrete example: “The council of ministers was held here and for example, the room where it was held last week [ainda pelo anterior Executivo] is a meeting room for Caixa Geral de Depósitos”, suggesting that the process to install the operational center there is still far behind.
As Negócios reported, even before taking office, the PSD said it “has nothing against the transfer”.
The installation of all ministries and some public administration bodies began to be negotiated in 2021 and foresees the release of the building’s 90 thousand square meters of area where around 2,500 employees of the bank’s central services work. Of that area, around 3 thousand square meters are already occupied by offices of public bodies.
Valued at around 360 million euros, the Caixa Geral de Depósitos headquarters building was handed over to the State by the financial institution in the form of dividends.
The change will represent a net contribution to the public coffers, given that the cost of adaptation works of 40 million euros is far below that amount. The expense has already been validated by the Court of Auditors.
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With Filomena Spear and Hugo Neutel
