INCLEMENT weather has caused the delay in the construction of the new Negros Occidental Provincial Administration Building along Gatuslao and Calamba Streets in Bacolod City.
Provincial Engineer Ernie Mapa said Wednesday, August 10, that excavation works are ongoing for the construction of the basement and laying of the foundation of the building.
Mapa said the area where the building will be constructed is now being cleared.
“We are looking into the possibility of finishing the construction in three years' time, probably by October 2024,” he said.
Mapa explained that the laying of the building’s foundation could not be done immediately.
It can be recalled that the Dynamic Builders and Construction Co. won the nearly P1-billion project to build the seven-storey building during the time of then late Governor Alfredo Maranon Jr.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson had earlier planned to halt the project and instead transfer it to the provincial government’s 25-hectare property in Talisay City.
However, the Government Procurement Policy Board stressed that in order to that, a rebidding should be done again.
Dynamic Builders opposed the rebidding process since the province has already paid the standard 15 percent advance payment for its mobilization fund.
Meanwhile, Mapa said the renovation of the Pala-Pala Food Terminal and Market is now underway.
The market was damaged during the onslaught of Typhoon Odette in December last year, he said.
The provincial engineer added that while the renovation is ongoing, the operation of the market will still continue.