Proposed construction of new city hall still hangs
The committee tasked to study the offer of Megaworld Corp. to have the new Iloilo City Hall constructed in its property in Mandurriao district has yet to render their recommendation.
The plan to construct a multi-million city hall at its old site in Plaza Libertad was put on hold because of Megaworld's offer.
Mayor Jerry Treñas said he is still waiting for the recommendation of the committee led By Vice Mayor Jed Mabilog.
Treñas said the city will come up with a decision as soon as the committee submits its recommendation regarding Megaworld's offer. However, the offer must be approved by the Office of Government Corporate Counsel which is an attached agency of the Department of Justice.
A committee was purposely created to study Megaworld's offer to the city government. Megaworld initially offered a 3,000-square meter lot at the corner of the Tabucan-Airport road including a parking space for the city hall. The exploratory talks between the city government also cover the site development and technical and commercial aspects.
The chief executive is confident Iloilo City will have its multi-million city hall building before his third and last term ends in 2010.
The city has already an approved loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines for P35 million for the construction of the supposed to be eight-storey edifice. The city also collected millions of pesos of real property taxes from several government owned and controlled corporations in the city as additional fund for the construction.
However, after the old city hall building at the Plaza Libertad was demolished nothing was heard about the project.