Wednesday, November 22, 2006 State university mulls over P250M infra work By Malou M. Mozo Sun.Star Correspondent
TO provide quality education to the masses, a local state university has drafted a campus renewal plan that will be implemented before its centennial celebration in 2018.
“The theme of the whole renewal project is to maintain a UP (University of the Philippines) tradition of excellence but meeting the challenges of modernity,” said Dr. Enrique Avila of University of the Philippines in the Visayas Cebu College (UPVCC).
The campus renewal plan involves the renovation of UPVCC’s existing infrastructure, such as the administration, undergraduate, high school, and arts and science buildings; library; and dormitories.
The UPVCC also plans to construct a seven- to 10-story graduate studies building, facilities on product design and communications, faculty dorm, gymnasium, grandstand, soccer field, campus hotel or shopping center, and student and faculty housing.
Renovation of existing buildings will cost the university about P30 million and work is expected to be completed in the next five years.
Cost
The construction of the graduate studies building, on the other hand, is expected to cost about P250 million.
“The whole property of UP Cebu is a donation from the government and we want to use the entire property for educational purposes. The campus will be an open gallery,” Avila said.
Avila told Sun.Star Cebu that the plan will be implemented when UPVCC will be able to finally reclaim its estimated 12-hectare property in Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City from “informal settlers.”
According to UPVCC supervising administrative officer Alsidry Sharif, the university is only occupying 60 percent of the total lot area in Lahug.
“We are currently profiling those informal settlers who will be relocated and compensated,” Sharif said.
He added that informal settlers are “amenable” to the plan.
Avila said UPVCC has agreed to sell “in principle” its five-hectare lot in Talisay City.
Avila also revealed that the proposed campus renewal plan would rely heavily on funding from the private and public sectors, apart from the university’s own budget.
External support
“We will need external support. By building on good academic programs, I’m optimistic the support will follow,” he said.
In an earlier interview, Avila expressed “delight” in UP president Emerlinda Roman’s 10-point agenda that includes the plan to develop UP Cebu within her six-year term.
“We have long been neglected, it’s time to turn things around,” Avila said.
Roman, in a statement furnished to Sun.Star Cebu, assured that the UP system will contribute to the development of Central Visayas by developing its UP Cebu campus.
University of the Philippines, the premier state university of the country, will celebrate its centennial celebration on 2008.
