PCC President Patrick Tellei symbolically accepted the finished PTHSE building from NECO Marine Construction Co. President Shallum Etpison in a simple handover ceremony.
The construction of the building officially wrapped up on September 28, and the school will officially open in Spring next year. It was first conceptualized 15 years ago, but it was only in January this year that it broke ground. Construction started on February 15.
“I want to thank NECO Marine Construction for the fine work that they did,” Tellei said during the handover ceremony.“Not every contractor would use their fine wood on the project. Neco elected to use their Honduran Mahogany on this building.”
Tellei said NECO Construction opted to use the valuable material knowing how important the new building is for Palau’s tourism industry. “So, for that, we are very grateful,” Tellei added. “They believe in quality and style; and they finished the project on budget and on time.”
On his part, Etpison also thanked PCC for selecting NECO Construction to do the building.
According to Tellei, the final cost of the building is $535,345.88. The original construction amount was $473,613.71. The $61,732 difference was used to accommodate the solar water heating system.
“We still have to go through the fit-out process,” Tellei said. “We need to buy kitchen equipment. It needs to be all furnished before we put it into full use in January.”
The Tourism School, which is housed inside the PCC Campus, is a project by the Ministry of Education, PCC and Belau Tourism Authority (BTA). In January last year, a Memorandum of Agreement was signed among the three parties, and PCC donated an old dorm building for the school’s location.
The school will have facilities such as a commercial kitchen, restaurant, bar and an alfresco area. The second floor will house a mock hotel room, reservation, reception and concierge area, as well as two classrooms for practicum and theory classes.
PTHSE aims to train and equip students with a range of skills, knowledge and confidence needed for Palau’s growing tourism industry.
Instructors will be coming from other countries and other regions. PCC will also be coordinating with hotels and other hospitality industries. Target enrollees are high school graduates, college students, industry employers and employees for refreshment courses, public and private sector personnel for retraining of new employees or training of the unemployed or the disabled.
