The City hall lobby and Commission on Audit office will undergo rehabilitation worth P7 million after the flooring in both areas collapsed on Friday.
The entire structure of the City hall was made of wood and was constructed on 1926.
City Engineer’s Office head Engr. Joseph Dominic Felizarta said that they will need to close the lobby of the city hall for three to six months for the retrofitting of the above mentioned area.
“We need to close the main entrance of the city hall for the retrofitting since the floor of the COA office collapsed. We also looked at the foundation of the main lobby and we found out that there are a lot of termites already,” Felizarta said.
He explained that the underground of the building is full of water that causes moisture on the flooring.
He said that because the building is mostly made of woods, termites are one of the causes why the foundation of the building weakens.
Felizarta said that they will now make columns made of cement instead of woods to avoid such incidents.
“We will replace it with cement so that we can avoid repetition of our job, cement can also hold on the moisture unlike the woods,” he said.
The P7 million budget will be coming from the City Mayor’s Office funds.
While construction is ongoing, people can use the door at the back of the city hall as the main entrance and exit, while the employees will use the doors at the side of the building.
After the flooring of the COA office collapsed, the department immediately transferred to another office for the continuity of their job.
Meanwhile, felizarta said that there is no need for other offices to relocate since the construction will only affect the lobby and the COA office on the ground floor.
