GOVERNOR Eugenio Jose Lacson has announced Wednesday, June 15, that the plan to transfer the offices at the Provincial Capitol Building to Talisay City will no longer push through.
The Capitol offices will stay in its present location in Bacolod City, the governor said.
Lacson explained that the contractor, Dynamic Builders and Construction Co., did not agree to undergo another bidding process for the transfer of the offices to Talisay City.
"We will not transfer to Talisay City anymore. We will just have to study with the property that will also create economic activity in the area," he pointed out.
A rebidding is required if the construction of the new Provincial Administration Center (PAC) will be moved to the Capitol property in Talisay City.
It can be recalled that the Dynamic Builders and Construction Co. won the nearly P1-billion project to build a seven-storey new Provincial Administration Building at the old site, along Gatuslao and Calamba Streets in Bacolod
City, during the administration of late Governor Alfredo Maranon Jr.
The firm was already paid the standard 15 percent advance payment for its mobilization fund.
Lacson earlier planned to move the Capitol offices to a 25-hectare property of the provincial government along the Bacolod-Silay Airport Access Road in Talisay City.
The governor added that he already gave the "green light" to the contractor to immediately start the construction of the new PAC building.
"They should start. We will be monitoring them every month," he added.
The timeline for the construction of the project is three years.
Lacson said the challenge is on managing the traffic in the area surrounding the project site.
"We will have to talk with Bacolod City Mayor-elect Alfredo Benitez considering that the Capitol buildings are situated within the city," he added.*