An express crystal elevator exclusively for the use of tourists and visitors of the new Iloilo City Hall will be up for installation within this year.
Department of Tourism (DOT) Reg. Dir. Helen Catalbas said the elevator was promised by Secretary Ramon Jimenez to Iloilo City Mayor JedPatrick Mabilog last year after seeing the imposing panorama surrounding the city hall and including the beautiful Iloilo River.
Catalbas said the elevator will cost about P15 million to befunded by the Tourism Infrastructure and Economic Zone Authority (TIEZA) in providing easy and direct access to the penthouse level of the cityhall.
The penthouse is located above the seventh floor of the new city hall which city mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog converted into two rooms forconferences and other social events and the open spaces for a landscaped garden.
Mabilog said earlier that the new city hall is the first green building of the government in Western Visayas complete with solar power,rainwater catchment and plants.
The express elevator for tourists will ferry the visitorsfrom the ground floor directly to the penthouse without passing the otherfloors so as not to distract the offices.
Catalbas said the visitors and tourists are mostlyforeigners, senior citizens and balikbayans who wanted to see the river, the Iloilo Strait and Guimaras Island,Plaza Libertad, San Jose Church, downtown Iloilo City and the central business district and the heritage buildings along Calle Real from the tallest building which is the city hall.
Mabilog vowed to add more plant sand flowers at the open spaces of the penthouse to further add the beauty of the area and attract more tourists to come and see the city hall and the surrounding panorama free of charge. By LydiaC. Pendon
