Taxpayers will now pay an additional $13.3 million for the new Magistrates' Court and Hamilton Police Station building which will now cost $91.3 million dollars.

In November, Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess said the project would be completed within the Total Allowed Funding (TAF) of $78 million.

But yesterday in the house, Mr. Burgess said the building would now cost taxpayers an additional $13,303,666.98 due to unforeseen ground conditions, changes of the building code, a larger generator, tenants, a local design team, building permit fees and having an owner's representative on the site.

The complex was originally expected to cost $70 million. In December, Mr. Burgess said the excess cost would not exceed $10 million and would not be anywhere near $18 million.

Yesterday, he broke down the excess costs in the House of Assembly and said: "The Ministry of Works and Engineering has nothing to hide with respect to the construction project. We are satisfied that it is well managed and that the allocated finding is being expended prudently and effectively. We are satisfied that the increase in the cost of the new facility is fully justified and are obliges to are with the members of this honourable house and the people of Bermuda the details of the increases in costs."

Unforeseen ground conditions and errors in the plan will cost taxpayers an additional $1,729.861.

Mr. Burgess cited problems with the design of some of the stairs in the building as an example.

He explained the changes required by the building code which will cost $1,451,616.

"The basis of design of the new building from a building code perspective was not current at the time of construction start in some areas due to the construction documents being shelved for a period of time during which applicable building codes had changed.

"The largest single item here is the smoke evacuation system which was not part of the original design and became required due to the added floor.

"There were also myriad updates to suit code due to the time period between design and construction. The electrical load from the smoke evacuation system added to generator resizing."

The cost of installing a larger generator is $1,017,000.

An additional $8,875,448 is for tenant works for Government occupancy but Mr. Burgess said that money will be refunded to his Ministry.

The rest of the money — $6,329,742.23 — is allocated for ancillary costs which include local design team, building permit fees and having an owner's representative on the site.

The Minister said: "The Magistrates' Court, Hamilton Police Station project will continue to be manages in a fiscally prudent manner and in complete compliance with financial instructions. We shall of course continue to provide more detailed and precise allocations over the life of the project and trust that during the interim, honourable members and the people of Bermuda will find this information helpful."

Shadow W&E Minister Pat Gordon-Pamplin suggested the Government should have made better plans to avoid going over budget.

"We have a job to do and we have a right to critique it on behalf of the people of Bermuda. I will always ensure that the Minister knows my exact position. We all know that the project started out down disaster road based on decisions that the Government made.

"I give credit to the Minister for realising that it was going wrong and reining it back in and getting it on track.

"The issue is if you take the time to plan from the outset, God only knows that not only can you save money in the process but you can at least let the taxpayers of this country know what their obligations are."