City to spend more than P410 M for new city hall building
The city government will incur additional expenses on top of the projected budget for the new city hall building whether it be built in its present site in Plaza Libertad or in Brgy. San Pedro, Molo.
In a letter sent by Conrado P. Goco, vice president and general of the WVCoscolluela & Associates to the city government, he stated that city hall employees would be relocated somewhere else to continue its operation if the city chooses the present location.
The city needs to pay rental expenses for the relocation of offices housed in the city hall building. It will take 20 months to complete the proposed 11-storey building in Plaza Libertad.
In previous years, the city government rented the third floor of the Mary Mart Floor to accommodate the offices of the councilors and other city government offices. The city government incurred millions of rental expenses yearly.
The proposed 11-storey building cost P410,298,000. The P410,298,000 does not cover the demolition works, site development or improvement of site, internal partitioning for space planning, and fit-out works, primary transformer, architects and engineering fee and project management fee.
If the city will choose to have the new city hall building constructed in Molo, they will have to have additional budget for the construction of retaining wall along the riverbanks. The proposed budget for the 2-storey Iloilo City Hall in Molo is P404,731,372.
Goco said the budget for the proposed city hall building in Molo is lower by P5,566,000. but it requires the construction of retaining wall. The expenses for the construction of the retaining wall is not included in the budgetary estimate.
He added that the existing driven piles in the proposed area might obstruct the new pile driving works. "If that happens it will incur additional cost and will surely delay the construction schedule," said Goco.
The proposal of the WVCoscolluela & Associates is still pending before the Sangguniang Panlungsod. They will discuss the budgetary estimates for the construction of the new city hall building as soon as Mayor Jerry Treñas arrives from New York, USA.