Tuesday, October 03, 2006 Skepticism dismays architect, who says CICC is 90% complete
THE Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) is 90 percent complete and will be opened for a media tour this Wednesday.
Gov. Gwendolyn Gar-cia, who presided over yesterday’s meeting of the Asean Summit Cebu Organizing Committee because Ambassador Marciano Paynor is out of the country, clarified that the Capitol is not just working on the CICC building but also on its other needs.
Garcia told reporters after the closed-door meeting that CICC architect Manuel Guanzon expressed “frustration” over reports that the center will never be finished.
Guanzon showed the committee members photos during the start of the CICC’s construction and what the builders have accomplished so far.
“I can understand his frustration. Several teams are working 24 hours, we are dealing with a million and one things at a time, this is no normal endeavor,” the governor said.
The CICC is the main venue of the Asean summit in December, which will gather the 10 heads of the state of the Southeast Asian region and their dialogue partners from Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia.
Perversion
“We push ourselves beyond human limitations. The least that we would expects is if they can’t try to encourage at all, and actually by some perversion would wish us to fail, that they’ll not try to mislead or convince the public into thinking that we are far behind,” Garcia said.
Garcia was referring to a photo of the CICC that came out in a paper. The caption, she lamented, expressed doubts on the building’s completion but did not show a recent picture of the construction “when every beam, girder and every piece of metal is counted.”
She said the CICC’s escalators and elevators have been delivered at the Cebu port, while the airconditioning system is now at the construction site.
They are also working on the fire alarm, the sprinkler system, the partitions, landscaping, security cameras and others.
“Cebu was chosen not because of our outstanding infrastructure because we lack that, but precisely because of (Arroyo’s) great faith in the Cebuanos’ capacity to deliver and their positive can do attitude. I hope that those who, by perhaps own personal reason want the CICC to fail, would start thinking about whether or not it’s really worth it- this personal satisfaction in seeing me failing to deliver over the collective, overwhelming embarrassment of the entire Cebuano people,” Garcia said.
Despite heavy rains, workers continue 24-hours at the CICC because the structure already has roof, she added.
Department of Public Works and Highways Director Robert Lala, for his part, said they are doubling their efforts but “can’t make miracles.”
They are targeting the completion of all Asean-route road works on Oct. 31, as well as the painting jobs of curbs, gutters and center islands. (JPM)
