No contractor yet for proposed P200M multi-purpose center in Marawi

Marawi City. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

A Filipino-Chinese business group wants to build a P200 million multi-purpose center in Marawi City, but the project couldn’t find a contractor amid fears of peace and order in the war-torn area, a top official said.

Domingo Yap, president of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) said in an interview with reporters Thursday that the group had a formal turnover ceremony on Thursday, in which the Metrobank group donated P2 million for the project.

On the sidelines of the event, Yap said the funding has been completed but it still lacked a contractor.  “The problem now is the contractor. Some of them [potential contractors] don’t want to go there,” Yap said.

Prompted by a terrorist attack on Marawi City in May 2017, the Duterte administration decided to extend military rule until the end of this year.

“It’s mainly [because of] peace and order. They’re still scared,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino when asked what was holding the contractors back.

Funding for the project has been sourced from donations in a number of Filipino-Chinese business and civic associations, according to the group’s statement. Yap said the bulk of the funding came from FFCCCII, which is made up of around 170 trade groups.

Called the Filipino Chinese Friendship Dome, the project is a 4,000-seat civic, cultural and sports center, which will be located in a two-hectare area in Marawi City.  The center would be completed in 16 to 18 months from groundbreaking, the group said.

It remains to be seen what will happen to the FFCCCII project, which Yap called the “largest single donation from the Chino community.”

The project would still have to be given through a bidding process to make it transparent, although this is mainly an effort from the private sector, Yap said./lzb