HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A number of capital improvement projects at Guam Community College are making progress despite some challenges, according to the institution’s president.
GCC President Mary Okada provided the GCC Board of Trustees with updates on the progress of construction projects at the community college, starting with the Wellness Center.
“I have a meeting with the (certified public accountant) next week to do the update on the feasibility studies. So that piece … is one of the major areas that we are working on with the (United States Department of Agriculture). Once that’s done, then we can move that particular project forward,” Okada reported on Friday.
Building B is currently 54.42% completed, she said.
“Right now, they are working on the installations of the rebars. They did concrete pouring this past week and, as we know, there is some delay in concrete delivery now. So we’re starting to see the delay in a couple of our projects,” Okada said.
Construction on the Workforce Development Center is held up by easement issues, according to Okada.
She said officials are “working with legal counsel to finalize one area that we need to resolve in terms of the easement and … the bid opening is actually scheduled for Dec. 7. They must have done the bid opening, so they’re doing the evaluation now.”
The Culinary Arts and Baking Center has incurred additional costs that will need to be approved at the next board meeting, Okada said.
“So, as the contractor was working on the Culinary Arts, of course, now we are faced with having to replace the roof. And so, at the next meeting, since I just got the preliminary costing, at the next meeting I will be requesting the board to fund the additional architectural work needed for the roof,” Okada said.
And while work is done on the roof, Okada said, there are plans to install solar panels.
“It is my understanding (that in) the current grant we have from the (U.S. Department of the Interior) there’s still some leftover money from that project. So the request has been made to DOI to use some of the remaining funds for our grant … on the Culinary Center,” Okada said.
The Building 2000 generator project also has been delayed by issues with concrete delivery, she told the board.
“That’s one thing. It’s 85% complete, so we should have that project done. It’s almost there, but you know (the) time extension is to Dec. 25, so we’re hoping concrete delay doesn’t impact that too much,” Okada said.
The Guam Community College Building B Renovation construction site is seen Wednesday, April 12, 2023, at the Mangilao campus.
