TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A further NT$2.59 billion (US$80.62 million) has been budgeted for the construction of Taiwan's new National Military Museum, the defense ministry said on Tuesday (Sept. 4).

The ministry said the National Military Museum will be completed in August 2025, and will come in at a total cost of NT$5.326 billion, per CNA. The funds will be spent on the museum’s construction, research, and its collections, the ministry said.

According to a 2015 presidential office press release announcing the project, the museum was originally scheduled to open in 2023. The budget has also increased multiple times from the original NT$1.76 billion slated for the project, according to a report published by the legislature in 2022.

The museum is being built on a site in Taipei’s Dazhi and will replace the Armed Forces Museum in Zhongzheng District which was closed in 2021. The building is designed by Ricky Liu & Associates Architects and Planners and features seven floors above ground and three below.

Since the project was announced, the military and government officials have said the museum will focus on the national army, and Taiwan’s “determination to resist foreign aggression.” In 2019, the military’s news outlet Youth Daily News said the museum’s conceptual design was still under consideration. 

Taiwan News asked the defense ministry for updated information about displays planned for the museum, but did not receive a reply by press time.