Saturday, September 23, 2006
Confirmed: Plan B if Cebu convention center not done on time
By Rose O. Versoza
CEBU CITY -- Ambassador Marciano Paynor said that even if the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) is not completed by December, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit will still be held in Cebu, under an alternative plan.
Under plan B, Paynor said the summit sessions will be scattered in three venues-Shangrila's Mactan Island Resort and Spa, Marco Polo Plaza and Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino. Security arrangements for plan B are being prepared as well.
But Paynor, who heads the Asean summit national organizing committee, remains hopeful that the CICC will be completed in time for the Asean summit on December 11 to 14.
As of the latest report submitted to him last Tuesday, the CICC is already 82 percent complete.
Paynor said they have fixed a specific date as to when they should decide to give up on CICC and agree to change the summit venue. He refused to divulge the date, though.
"Again, we have to be confident. We have to be optimistic that it will be finished because it is the symbol of the Asean-the CICC. We cannot afford not to be optimistic," Paynor told reporters Friday.
Paynor was the guest in "The Asean Challenge: Covering the Big Stories in the 12th Asean Summit" forum held yesterday morning at the Marcelo B. Fernan Cebu Press Center, as part of the Cebu Press Freedom Week 2006.
He admitted that the construction of the CICC encountered some delays, including the delivery of materials, but the contractor made up for it by finishing the areas outside the building.
Paynor, who visited the CICC last Thursday, said two-thirds of the parking area and two-thirds of the fence had already been completed.
"The inside is critical and we're watching it very closely," said the ambassador.
He said that by November, everything will be "more or less completed."
The international media center is scheduled to open on December 4 or two days before the start of the senior officials' meetings, so by the end of September, they will start laying out the cables for the communications facilities.
Paynor does not appear too keen on utilizing the hotels in Cebu as a summit venue. "A hotel is a hotel," he said when asked.
"All of these things are being considered. We have been doing scenario planning for each of these various options," said Paynor.
As for road repairs, he said the Department of Public Works and Highways has been given until Nov. 15 to complete them. The asphalting of roads will start by the middle of October.
But other infrastructure works, like gutters, are already being done. He warned the public that during the four-day summit, major roads in Cebu will be closed for about an hour at least, as foreign leaders move about. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(September 23, 2006 issue)
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