Thursday, July 17, 2008 [ sunstar.com.ph ]
By Erwin Cabarles
AFTER the two failed biddings for the construction of the new Iloilo City Hall, the City Government is planning to instead purchase a building as an alternative.
City Mayor Jerry Treñas said he and the City Council have to talk more to decide if it would be much better to just purchase a building or pursue the planned construction of a new one, which will cost the city over P300 million.
The building that the city intended to buy is located in front of the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand in J.M. Basa Street.
Treñas said cost of the building is P50 million. This is much cheaper compared to constructing a new city hall, he said.
He added that they are also considering renovation expenses.
The City Government temporarily holds office at the third floor of Robinson's Iloilo Mall as the old City Hall in the Plaza Libertad area has been demolished for the construction of a new seven-storey high City Hall.
The mayor said that as of now, they are still studying what option is best, together with the city's architects.
He said if the purchase of the building proves to be much favorable then they would go for it.
Treñas also said if they will push through in building a new City Hall, the City Government has two options following the two failed biddings.
The first one is to reduce the number of floors and the second is to retain the design and increase the fund to pay for the construction.
In the first bidding, the winning contractor -- International Builders Corp. -- withdrew due to the increase in the price of construction materials.
The second bidding also failed after the participating contractors did not bid below the estimated P59,566,719 cost of the building.
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