MANILA - The incoming Senate leadership under Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri hopes that the construction of the New Senate Building will be done by the end of 2024.

LOOK: Some Senators visit the new Senate building at the Naval Village in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, Thursday. [📷Sen. Nancy Binay] @ABSCBNNews pic.twitter.com/u9Ak6ut6Bq

— Reiniel Pawid (@PawidReiniel) June 2, 2022

Zubiri said this is also in recognition of the senators who helped with the project.

"We’re trying to finish the new Senate Building by end of 2024. Para naman yung outgoing members of the 19th Congress ay makapag bisita pa sa bagong building," he told journalists in a text message.

The project, which cost P8.9 billion, was originally expected to be completed by July 2021, in time for President Rodrigo Duterte's last State of the Nation Address.

Outgoing Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III, Sens. Ping Lacson, and Nancy Binay pose with engineers and construction workers for photos after conducting a quick inspection of the construction site of the new Senate building in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. #SenatePH pic.twitter.com/IVNjKVrI4P

— Senate of the Philippines (@senatePH) June 2, 2022

• New Senate building breaks ground

On Thursday, Zubiri and outgoing Senators Vicente "Tito" Sotto and Panfilo Lacson and Senator Nancy Binay officiated the "symbolic lowering of the time capsule" during the New Senate Building's "dedication ceremony" at the Naval Village in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

"If only the walls could speak, the stories of the past would be endless. It would be a bittersweet moment to leave behind the Senate’s residence for over two decades," Sotto said in his speech.

"But I am confident, the new Senate building will undoubtedly kickstart a new and better chapter for the Senate of the Republic,” he added.