Nauru and Manus costs unknown: Bowen

18 Aug 2012, 4:25 pm   -   Source: AAP
Teams in Nauru will give updates on how much it will cost to rebuild detention centres. (AAP)

Teams in Nauru will give updates on how much it will cost to rebuild detention centres. (AAP)

Teams in Nauru and on Manus Island will give updates next week on how much it will cost to rebuild detention centres and how long it will take.

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It is not clear how long it is going to take or how much it is going to cost to recover the run down and overgrown asylum seeker facilities on Nauru and Manus Island, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says.

A scoping group of soldiers and government officials is in the process of assessing what work must be done to re-establish the centres, which are dilapidated and overgrown by jungle.

"We were developing Manus Island centre ... last year, so I knew the government was acutely aware of how much work needs to be done at Manus Island and Nauru," Mr Bowen told reporters outside his western Sydney electorate office on Saturday.

"You've seen the footage. There's a considerable amount of work to be done, as we've said all along."

Mr Bowen said the state of the centres disproved Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's repeated claims that there were facilities ready to start at any time.

"Those who argued that there was a detention facility in Nauru ready to go that could be rebuilt at no or minimal cost were incorrect," he said.

Updated costings and estimates as to when the facilities might reopen would be released in the coming week once the reconnaissance teams returned to Australia, Mr Bowen said.

The centres already face pressure, with nine boats carrying 534 people arriving since Monday, when the government announced its decision to restart offshore processing, following the report by former defence chief Angus Houston.

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