QC retrofits city hall
THE Quezon City government had started retrofitting its 46- year old city hall building to strengthen its foundation and make it earthquake-resistant.
According to City Administrator Aldrin Cuna, the structural retrofitting of the executive and the legislative building started in January.
“The structural retrofitting which started early this year, primarily includes installation of thicker beams, columns, and walls of the building,” Cuna told The Manila Times.
“Our structural engineers plan to strengthen the foundation up to the third level since it is up to that level which can carry the entire weight of the 14-storey city hall,” he added.
The P193-million project also includes mechanical, sanitary, electrical, and architectural improvements of the city hall’s facilities including airconditioning units, elevators, comfort rooms, electrical wirings, and shifting to light- emitting diode (LED) lights.
Cuna added the delay in the refurbishing of the city hall building was caused by a tedious procurement and planning process.
“It is a whole program that’s packaged to fit the standards of the building. We wanted to make sure that those who will do this are really capable of delivering the requirements. Hence, it took us awhile,” he said.
Randy Valdez of the Civic Center Department noted majority of the columns of the building will likely collapse following the 2010 National Structure Code of the Philippines.
“I can say that the building is still resilient despite running some tests. But we should adjust to the latest city code and standards to ensure that it will not collapse and it is structured in such a way that people can easily evacuate the area,” he added.
Rhealyn Lopez of the City Infrastructure Division added ground motion and soil excavation will take some time but are necessary before the columns and walls of the existing building will be thickened.
“We are now adding metal plates and concrete at the columns and walls of the basement floor. We’re targeting to finish this project by mid-2018,” she said in Filipino.
Cuna said other projects, including the construction, relocation and rehabilitation of other government offices have been slated.
“We will also conduct structural regulation of the government offices, the approved building for the new Social Services Department Office, one new building for finance cluster offices, the construction of the Hall of Justice Annex, the City Hall Police Detachment Unit, and the Car Park Building to name a few,” he said.
“We really plan to upgrade all the facilities and buildings inside the city hall compound. As for the legislative and executive building of the city hall, this already served as the landmark of the city,” said Rolando Mamaid, officer-in-charge of the Vertical Infrastructure Division.
The Quezon City Hall was constructed from 1964 to 1972 during the term of Mayor Norberto Amoranto.
It may have withstood earthquakes over the past years but its upper seven floors were gutted by fire in 1988.
In the 1949 master plan, the city hall should have been located at the site of the East Avenue Medical Center.
Other old but resilient establishments in the city include the Araneta Coliseum built in 1957 and the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice at the University of the Philippines-Diliman built in 1959.