PH to China: Support rehab of areas outside ground zero

The head of the Duterte administration’s economic team has asked the Chinese government to join a pledging session scheduled in November to secure additional funding for initiatives aimed at reconstructing and rehabilitating war-torn Marawi City.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III invited top-level Chinese officials to extend support for Marawi, which was leveled by five months of fighting between government forces and Islamic State supporters last year, during a meeting with China’s Ministry of Commerce last week, the Department of Finance said in a statement on Monday.

The country’s economic managers as well as the infrastructure team had met with Chinese officials in Beijing to fast-track the big-ticket infrastructure projects in the pipeline pitched for financing by China.

Deep gratitude

“We acknowledge with deep gratitude that China was among the first countries to respond to our immediate requirements in our recovery and reconstruction efforts in Marawi City,” Dominguez said during the meeting with China’s Commerce Minister Zhong Shan.

The pledging session being planned for the latter part of November will “support the implementation of the Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Program (BMCRRP),” Dominguez told Zhong.

“Your government’s active support and participation would be highly appreciated,” Dominguez added.

The BMCRRP covers areas outside ground zero, while the center of last year’s conflict was being eyed to be developed by a consortium that included Chinese firms.

Incidentally, Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the Philippines also in November.

Investment requirement

For this year, the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority estimated for the BMCRRP a total investment requirement of P26.2 billion, broken down as follows: P8.8 billion for physical infrastructure programs, projects and activities; P5.3 billion for social services; P5.1 billion for housing and settlement; P4.9 billion for livelihood and business development; P1.1 billion for local governance and peace building; and P831 million for land resource management.