The P700-million Iloilo Convention Center (ICC) is set to be inaugurated next month by President Benigno Aquino III.
Edilberto Tayao, regional director of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-6), said the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) told him that the president will be in Iloilo on September 14 to lead the inauguration of the government-funded project.
The two-storey ICC will be the main venue of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meetings in Iloilo City in September and October.
Iloilo City is scheduled to host the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) ministerial meeting on September 21 -25, the Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum on September 22-23, the High-Level Policy Dialogue on Food Security and the Blue Economy and Related Meetings on September 28 to October 6.
According to Tayao, the Phase II of the project is nearing completion.
“It is already 98 percent done. It is expected to be fully completed by end of the month [August] this year,” Tayao said.
The completion date was moved to end of August from July 31 because the project has to undergo some tests to ensure that it is safe and sound.
“There will be tests on mechanical and electrical gadgets inside the 22-meter high building,” Tayao said.
Specifically, he said, they will test the elevators and escalators to be installed in the ICC.
The Phase II includes the phinx aluminum clogging, painting of the whole building, plumbing and installation of electrical and mechanical features.
The ICC’s main hall on the ground floor has a 3,700-seat capacity while its function rooms on the second floor have a 500-seat capacity each.
Aside from the ICC, Aquino will also inaugurate the new bridge linking the districts of Lapuz and City Proper, Tayao disclosed.
ILOILO BUSINESS PARK 