Proposal to repair CICC sent to Malacañang in July
The cost of repairing the Cebu International Convention Center would reach P296.6 million based on a joint assessment by engineers of Mandaue city and Cebu province.
The estimate accompanied a July 20 letter to President Aquino following up a request by the Province of Cebu and Mandaue for the building’s repair to be shouldered by the national government, specifically the Department of Trade and Industry.
The letter was shown yesterday by Provincial Information Officer Ethel Natera yesterday to respond to accusations that the Capitol was allowing the CICC to rot.
Charges of “neglect of duty” and graft were filed the other day against Gov. Hilario Davide III and members of the Provincial Board by Mandaue-based lawyer Ervin Estandarte and former governor Gwendolyn Garcia who said province officials had “abandoned” the building which cost over P800 million to construct.
Natera said it was not true that the province has done nothing to rehabilitate the CICC, even through the governor has repeatedly said not a single centavo from province coffers would be spent for the building, which he calls a “monument of corruption.”
She said the Capitol sent to Malacañang the program of works and estimates (POWE), with a budget estimate for the repair and refurbishment of the facility. The letter was handcarried by Provincial Administrator Mark Tolentino.
“We understood that the allocation will be incorporated in the national budget for 2016. But until now, we still don’t have feedback from the national government,” Natera told Cebu Daily News.
The governor’s letter was a follow up to President Aquino’s visit to Cebu last May 1 when Mandaue City businessmen and Mayor Jonas Cortes asked the President’s help to repair the CICC as an exhibition hall for Cebu’s export products.
President Aquino assured them that the national government through the DTI was willing to fund it, which elated Mandaue officials.
The facility, built for the 12th Asean Summit in 2007, was heavily damaged by the October 2013 earthquake and super typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.
Natera said she is in close contact with DTI provincial director Nelia Navarro and Central Visayas regional director Aster Caberte about this.
“We are waiting for communication from DTI or even a response to our letter that the money is already here,” she said.
One foreman, 15 skilled workers, and 50 unskilled workers are Mechanical work is pegged at P42.5 million and site development works are estimated to cost P25 million.The project is estimated to take 300 calendar days.
Natera said the Mandaue City government did the cost estimates while the Capitol facilitated the request.
The Mandaue City government is also interested in using the CICC as an exhibition center for its furniture and other products, including those made from other parts of Cebu.
Lawyer Jamaal James Calipayan, executive secretary of Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, said they dropped a proposal to buy the facility because they couldn’t agree with the provincial government on the amount.
“Our assessment was only P250 million (for the CICC). We won’t pay for P800 million,” he said. The facility was built for more than P800 million, including the extra work done by the contractor.
Calipayan said Mandaue still wants to have the facility repaired and rebranded as an exhibition center similar to the World Trade Center in Manila.
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