DUMAGUETE CITY – City braces for the opening of a new 250-room convention hotel with shopping mall and other amenities to serve the needs of the thriving City of Dumaguete. It will also have a 2000-seater modern convention hall capable of hosting big concerts, conferences and banquets. These are all part of the P350M commercial complex that will be started on November.

The project’s proponent is 168 JOHN & JOHN VENTURES, operators of SOFIA Hotels who said that this is in recognition to Dumaguete as “one of the prime destinations in the south.”

This came after a study that Dumaguete as convention and university city, needs more places for accommodation for national and international gatherings.

First in November , according to Bencio Tan, barangay captain of Daro, will be two big restaurant chain to open. Then the shopping centers and hotel will follow for three years.

Daro LGU passed as resolution reequring “Daro First” Employment policy of construction workers.

The proponents also met with Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo to address his concerns and bared that the new facility will have 185 elevated parking slots within and outside the hotel. The investors will also provide service road within the whole property, so as not to cause further traffic congestion in the national highway.

Furthermore, the City requires investors to build its own waste water treatment plant to be in- Sofia comes to town stalled so that liquid wastes will be processed and filtered before being released to the drainage system. The convention hotel will be located in Barangay Daro fronting the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital, beside the GSIS headquarters.

The lot adjacent the project was also recently purchased for more commercial establishments. That is why the City has appreciated the donastion by the Cimafranca clan of a 10-meter wide road lot behind the GSIS to exit to the City Mall and EJ Blanco extension. The new road has just been opened.