Megaworld given until Monday to study city's counter-offer
The adhoc committee on the construction of the new city hall has given Megaworld Corporation until Monday to resolve the counter-offer presented by the city government in relation to the construction of the proposed new Iloilo City Hall building.
The adhoc committee chaired by Vice Mayor Jed Mabilog wanted Megaworld to increase the size of the lot intended to house the new Iloilo City Hall building in its 54-hectare property at the old Iloilo airport.
Mayor Jerry Treñas reportedly affirmed the Monday deadline set by the adhoc committee to Megaworld. The city has to run after time to push through the project.
Meanwhile, Megaworld's offer to construct the city hall building still needs to be cleared. The corporation is not a member of the Philippine Construction Accreditation Board (PCAB).
Only PCAB members are allowed to enter into government transactions such as the construction of the proposed city hall building. The accreditation policy is governed by the New Government Procurement Act.
The corporation wants a "land swap" deal with the city government as contained in their offer. They would be giving 13,000 square meters of lot for the site of the new city hall in exchange of the old city hall site in Plaza Libertad. The assessed value of the property offered to the city government is only P13.5 million or P4,500 per square meter.
The Commission on Audit (CoA) deemed the deal as disadvantageous to the city government. The old site of the already demolished city hall building has a land area of 2,000 square meters. As of 2004, the assessed value of the property is already P23,700,000 or P11,000,000. The property is located in the city's main commercial district.
The adhoc committee which is composed of Councilors Perla Zulueta, Eduardo Peñaredondo, Jose Espinosa III and several others was created by Mayor Treñas to study Megaworld's offer to the city government.
Mabilog said the corporation needs to get an accreditation from the board to get the contract to build the city hall building for Iloilo City. It will take at least a month for the board to issue an accreditation.
The vice mayor did not elaborate on the details regarding the terms and conditions on the construction of the proposed city hall building at the old airport site. It was not made public on how much is the proposed price as well as its number of floors.
In the original plan presented by the Pacific-Orient Consultants & Management Co. Inc, the budgetary estimates to the eight-storey high rise building is P378,987,675. The estimate was then computed in 2006. However, in March 2008, the total project cost increased to P463,883,922 or an increase of P84,896,247.