Capitol consultant: No need for more funds for CICC

There is no more need to appropriate additional funds for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit as far as the Cebu International Convention Center is concerned, according to Capitol consultant Pablo John Garcia.

Pablo John, the consultant on information, organization and management, said the CICC, which is the provincial government's main commitment to the national government in the hosting of the said international gathering, has been completed with a total of P515 million appropriations.

And even if CICC is now being picked as the main venue for the Asean Summit and the East Asia Summit, Pablo John said the building is constructed in such a way that it will be very flexible to whatever changes in configuration that the new summit schedules and the new activities would require because it was designed not only as a convention center but also as an exhibition center.

He also said that if there is going to be additional expenses incurred in the process, he said it would only be minimal.

"And in any event it will be spent in such a way that this will not only be for the Asean Summit but for the eventual operation of the CICC as a convention and exhibition center," he said.

Moreover, Pablo John said the causes of the CICC leak have been already attended to, saying that the leak was due to the installation of the glass panels on the canopy and that it had nothing to do with the roof.

"It had to with the application of more sealant to bind the glass to the aluminum frames. I think this has already been completed," he said.

"And as far as the leak caused by the positioning of the air condition units, I think they're already correcting that. They have raised the aircon units," he added.

At present, the WT Construction Inc., the main contractor for the civil works at the CICC, and its sub-contractors are still at CICC to monitor the list of corrections and the structure in general to see if there is a need to implement some changes to improve it further.

Even the contractor of the air conditioning units and the supplier of the escalator are still there at the CICC.

Nevertheless, he said none of the existing contractors at the CICC have incurred negative slippage.

The national organizing committee for the 12th Asean Summit is expected to be back by January 4 to prepare the function rooms to be used for the new summit schedules. - Cristina C. Birondo