The design of the Mandaue City Government Center. CDN Digital photo | Rosalie Abatayo
Mandaue City, Cebu — The Mandaue City government bared on Monday, March 4, 2019, the design of the P900-million government center which will be built along A. Soriano Avenue, at the back of the Mandaue City Sports Complex.
The construction of the new government center, which will house all government offices of the city, is expected to start after the May 2019 midterm elections.
Architect Araceli Barlam, officer-in-charge of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), said they plan to make the government resource center the first government edifice to be certified as a green building by the Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence (Berde) Rating System.
City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) head Architect Marlo Ocleasa said the construction for the first phase — a four-story building which will be the government center — will take at least two years.
The second phase include the medium-rise extension building which will be used as a commercial center.
Oclease said that they still await the passage of the borrowing ordinance at the City Council before they can close the loan agreement with the Landbank of the Philippines for the P900 million needed for the construction of the first phase.
Ocleasa added that they have yet to come up with the projected cost for the second phase since they still haven’t finalized its detailed design and appropriation.
Meanwhile, Ocleasa said that the present Mandaue City Hall or the Presidencia located in Barangay Centro will be transformed into a museum once the Government center is completed. /bmjo