The new city hall is expected to boost the tourism potentials of Koronadal.
Koronadal Mayor Fernando Q. Miguel said that the city government has forged a memorandum of understanding on Thursday with the bank represented by its president Reynaldo G. David.
“Owing to the passage of time, the present city hall has outlived its economic life and already depreciated,” the document said.
Aside from DBP, the other banks considered by the local government to finance the construction were Land Bank of the Philippines and Philippine National Bank.
The fund was the last remaining obstacle to the construction work for the new city hall building. Last year, the city government and the architectural firm United Technologies Inc. also signed an agreement after the latter won the public bidding for the design of the building.
Miguel said that United Technologies would be paid P9 million for the design and supervision of the construction of the new city government’s office.
Nonnie Morales, a senior member of the city council said the fund “will not be enough if costs for landscaping and other amenities within the 7.5 hectare city hall site are put into consideration.”
The new city hall will be four-storey high, with each storey estimated to have a floor area of hectare, he added.
The present city hall edifice is located in the heart of the city and has been the center of local government operations for several decades already.
In 2004, the local government purchased a 7.5-hectare lot strategically located in the outskirts of the city to the tune of P22 million to host the new city hall building.
The expensive cost of the land acquisition became controversial as Miguel and other local officials allegedly received commissions from the landowner.
In fact, several local reporters subsequently filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman Mindanao against the mayor and other elected officials and department heads for alleged violation of the anti-graft and corrupt practices act, malversation of public funds and falsification of public documents related to the purchase of the P22-million city hall site. The officials vehemently denied the accusations.
Miguel said the completion of the new city hall building would bring further development to the city. (MindaNews)