🏛️Public works· 2026

The Legislative Palace annex and its US$ 10 million

Vice President Cosse proposed a 2,600 m² annex and works around the Palace; the opposition and architects question the cost and the missing studies.

Under debateUnder public debate

Figure published by the sources

US$ 10 millones disponibles y objetivo declarado del proyecto; el senador Tabaré Viera estimó hasta US$ 15 millones (Brecha, mayo de 2026)

Bodies involved

Poder Legislativo

What it is

On 6 May 2026, ahead of the Legislative Palace's centenary, Vice President Carolina Cosse presented, alongside architect Salvador Schelotto and other technical staff, an urban intervention project: an annex building of some 2,600 square metres with a library, reading rooms, a CAIF childcare centre, student housing and an accessible public plaza on its roof, plus improvements to public space and the urban integration of the surroundings. According to Montevideo Portal, Parliament had earmarked US$ 40 million for centenary works and returned US$ 30 million to general revenue, leaving about US$ 10 million available.

What is questioned

Brecha reported on 22 May 2026 that Senator Tabaré Viera argued "the building alone does not come in below 10 million dollars" and that the total work "would not come in below 15 million; 50 per cent more than what we hypothetically have". National Party deputy Juan Martín Rodríguez called the initiative "untimely and costly" and, according to la diaria, objected that it "mixes things that are not within the Legislative Branch's remit". Engineer Natalia Castro, from the project team, replied that technically it "has no cost" at this initial stage because details are undefined, and that "the objective is that it costs 10 million dollars", roughly half of it for the new building. La Mañana reported that the professional association APADUU demanded "public technical studies of mobility analysis, urban impact and metropolitan functioning" and information on "heritage criteria, scale of intervention, architectural insertion", and denounced the "secrecy around maintenance costs and operational sustainability"; the president of the Society of Architects of Uruguay, Alberto Leira, defended the initiative and said "it is not money we are wasting".

Why it matters to you

This is between US$ 10 and US$ 15 million of public money debated in a year when the economy minister himself is raising doubts about fiscal room. The citizen's question is not whether the building looks good, but what else is not done with that money.

Where it stands

Under debate

The proposal went to the Administrative Commission on 14 May 2026. Cosse played down the initiative, describing it to Brecha as an "idea" still "very far, even, from being a preliminary design" and open to changes, and answered the criticism by saying it is "a serious proposal, with technical grounding" that should be discussed without shouting or social-media pile-ons. On 9 May 2026 Economy Minister Gabriel Oddone said of the works, to la diaria: "At this moment I would not do it". As of this file's closing (August 2026) there is no record of a tender being called.

The open-data cross-reference

Open this set in the explorer

What the state awarded to the bodies and companies named in this file, according to the official Compras Estatales data. It is a cross-reference for scale, not proof of irregularity: it includes contracts nobody questioned.

How this cross-reference was builteverything recorded under the body's buying unit (not only this case) · between 2026 and 2026

$ 237.243.485 Awarded (cross-ref)

145Contracts

105Suppliers

Who was paid

Suppliers ranked by amount awarded in the cross-reference. A contract with several suppliers counts in full against each one: this is a ceiling, not a split.

What it bought

Spending by category, from price times quantity of each awarded item, in the contract currency.

The detail

30 contracts

The largest contracts in the cross-reference, high to low. Tap one for its record and the link to the official purchase.

Amounts in pesos, normalised. Records with impossible quantities are excluded from the total. The project is at a preliminary stage: there is no tender or contract yet, so there is nothing to cross-check against open data, and the figures circulating are disputed estimates, not official budgets. If it advances, Legislative Branch works should be processed through state procurement and would then be recorded.