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Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Mayor frowns on P60M extra for City Hall’s legislative bldg.
The P60-million additional budget for the renovation of the Cebu City Hall legislative building might become “another possible conflict” between Mayor Tomas Osmeña and his allies in the City Council.
“They need another P60 million for that. I find it very hard to swallow even if I have the money. We don’t have the money so I can’t swallow it,” the mayor told a news conference yesterday.
In a separate interview, Vice Mayor Michael Rama said he can’t answer the mayor’s concern because “I am not an engineer.”
“It would be (Councilor) Nestor (Archival) himself who can best answer that because he is the proponent. He knows the engineering details of the project,” Rama said.
Councilor Archival, in another interview, said it will be up to the mayor, “as I am not privy to the details of the request for additional budget.”
Civil works
“But let’s just finish the first phase, review the costs and let’s see what we can do about it. We really can’t do anything without the mayor’s approval,” he said.
The City Government has awarded the P65-million contract to Dakay Construction and Development Corp. for the civil works.
However, the legislative department needs about P60 million more for new furniture, fixtures and air-conditioning, as well as landscaping for the City Hall Park that will reach the Magellan’s Park across the legislative building.
As early as last March, the mayor already lamented that the City is spending a lot of money on the project.
“The City Council is only one of the 21 departments in City Hall. Why should they occupy 80 percent of the building? We have 5,000 employees,” the mayor had said.
He brought up the issue again in a news conference yesterday, adding that the City Hall annex is an eight-story building and it cost the City only P70 million.
“P120 million for a renovation? I don’t know how to justify that. At this time, it’s impossible. It’s not a priority. Besides, we’re only spending P700,000 a month for rent (at the City Savings Bank Building). They can just stay there until we’re ready to fix the legislative building and until we’re ready to shoulder the cost. It’s getting a little out of hand,” he said.
Mistakes
The mayor also said that awarding the contract to the University of San Carlos (USC) was “not a well-thought out decision.”
“I have received the plans three times and have made revisions three times. We paid USC P2 million. I spotted so many mistakes but I also did not spot they need another P60 million to finish it,” Osmeña added.
Renovating the legislative building is part of the old council’s legislative agenda that also includes digitalization of ordinances and creating the legislative tracking system. (GAC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 5, 2006 issue)
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