GROUND ZERO Residents of Marawi City revisit what used to be their homes at ground zero of the five-month fighting between government troops and gunmen belonging to the Maute group.—RICHEL UMEL
The Duterte administration has reset the groundbreaking for the rehabilitation of Marawi City from July to August as it has still no private developer to rebuild the area that was a battle zone last year between government forces and Maute rebels.
It was the second time the groundbreaking was moved after it was initially set in June and then reset to this month.
Eduardo del Rosario, chair of Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM), said the new schedule of the groundbreaking would be held either in the third or fourth week of August.
“We could not meet the indicative timeline because we had unsuccessful negotiation with Bangon Marawi Consortium (BMC),” Del Rosario said of the private developer.
Talks ongoing
But he said the group was now talking with Power China, which was next in line among possible private developers for the Marawi rehabilitation.
The delay in finding a private developer will not affect the group’s bid to complete the city’s rehabilitation by the last quarter of 2021, he said.
Asked why the negotiation with BMC was unsuccessful, he said the consortium failed to satisfy the financial capacity, and technical and legal requirements of the development project.
Extension
Falconi Millar, TFBM secretary general, said Power China had asked for a four-day extension to submit its technical proposals.
Del Rosario said the group was waiting for Power China to also name within the week the local company it would partner with in developing Marawi.
He said the group believed the development of Marawi City would cost P16 billion, and not P75 billion as initially assessed.— CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO