Negros Occidental mayors OK transfer of province’s capitol building to Talisay City

BACOLOD CITY—The mayors of Negros Occidental unanimously agreed to the transfer of the provincial capitol offices from Bacolod City to Talisay City.

The nearly P1 billion new Provincial Administration Center (PAC) will be built on a 25-hectare property owned by the province along the Bacolod Silay Airport Access Road in Talisay.

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said the Association of Chief Executives of Negros Occidental will pass a resolution supporting the transfer of the provincial capitol offices to Talisay.

This will be forwarded to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP), or provincial board, that will call for public hearings, especially with the business sector.

As soon as the board gives the green light, the provincial government will then notify Dynamic Builders and Construction Co., which had earlier won the bid to construct the new PAC in Bacolod City, to instead build it at the Talisay site.

Construction of the new PAC is expected to start this year and could take three years to complete, Lacson said.

The mayors stressed the need to preserve the capitol building in Bacolod City that is a historical site and can still be used for some functions.

Lacson said he made it clear that the provincial government was discussing only the relocation of the capitol building, not changing the capital of Negros Occidental from Bacolod to Talisay.

TSB