Pasig Temporary City Hall nears completion

The local government of Pasig City announced on Monday that the construction of the temporary city hall located in Amang Rodriguez in Barangay Rosario is nearing completion.

Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto said that while he was hesitant about the city hall’s redevelopment project, he stressed the need to construct it “because it is a one-in-a-lifetime infrastructure project.”

Sotto also said that the Pasig City Hall Campus Redevelopment Masterplan is a long-term project and the priority will be the most important building of all — the main city hall building, which will take approximately two years to complete.

He acknowledged that the timeline seems ambitious, but said that based on experience, careful planning and observations within the local government, he is confident that the two or two and a half years of construction will be manageable.

The mayor also said that even with the construction of the temporary city hall is ahead of schedule.

Initially, it was said that the construction would be completed by the end of July and would be okay for move-in by July or August, but Sotto said that the timeline seems to have been moved up by a few weeks or possibly months.

Sotto also said that some local government’s housing projects have already undergone pre-bidding activities — which are also on schedule.

The local chief executive also reminded the City Engineering Department not to forget about the other infrastructure projects even though the local government is focused on prioritizing the major ones.

Sotto also announced the planned non-contact construction one-stop-shop, which aims to improve and expedite the processes and services of the Office of the Building Official, adding that the non-contact construction one-stop-shop is being done already in other local government units.

The non-contact construction one-stop-shop will be implemented once the local government moves into the temporary city hall.

Sotto said that of the 100 complaints on the processing of the building permit, 99 of them are caused by the clients themselves — either lacking requirements or having deficiencies.

With that, he said that the local government should strengthen its education campaign about the processes and mentioned that there is still a need to exert extra effort to stop fixers.