New Dagupan City hall awaits COA nod
MBTF: PROBLEM LIES WITH CONTRACTOR
CONTINUATION of the construction of the new Dagupan City hall undertaken during the previous Lim administration in 2022, could not move forward until the Commission on Audit (COA) gives its approval to the work done under the project’s first phase, according to Mayor Belen Fernandez.
“Before we can move to Phase 2, COA needs to first approve the work done by the contractor on Phase 1,” the mayor said in a talk to newsmen last week. “The problem is not with us but with the contractor, who has to explain to COA why Phase I of its contracted project was much delayed.”
She said Phase 1 has yet to be completed by the contractor after three years of work.
The new city hall planned by the Lim administration is a four-phase project with Phase 1 allocated a P64 million fund from the 2022 approved budget.
However, its construction under Phase 1 was started only after the 2022 election, when Lim lost his re-election bid against Fernandez.
Despite the contractor’s poor performance, Fernandez said she is not considering a change in contractor so it would be easy to pinpoint accountability.
Acknowledging that the costs of materials as well as labor had escalated over the past three years, Fernandez said the project may need additional funding for it to be completed by 2026.
As such, the three-floor building – which can only accommodate a maximum of seven out of the total 46 offices of the Dagupan City government – the new city hall being constructed would likely turn out to be even more expensive than the five-story city hall building Fernandez proposed in 2019 but was dropped by the Lim administration. (Leonardo Micua)
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