Filipinos will now be spending less for the rehabilitation of Marawi City after the government went over with a fine toothed-comb the list of projects to be implemented between 2018 and 2022.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said the President approved the plan, as well as other policy recommendations, after a Cabinet meeting on Monday night that lasted for nearly eight hours.
The rehabilitation of Marawi City will now cost P62.26 billion, lower than the initial estimate of around P70.42 billion to P73.42 billion. “After thorough vetting [there is now a] lower number of PPAs [programs, projects and activities] and lower cost,” National Economic and Development Authority Regional Development Office Undersecretary Adoracion M. Navarro told the BusinessMirror.
The bulk of the cost, or P46.48 billion, will be for the Bangon Marawi (BM) Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Program for 2018 to 2022, or those outside the most affected areas in the city.
The remaining P15.78 billion will be for public infrastructure needed for the most affected areas, according to Eduardo del Rosario, chairman of Task Force BM and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council. In a presentation of the BM program, Navarro said the bulk of the cost (P21.67 billion) will be spent for physical infrastructure, followed by housing and settlement (P10.16 billion). The cost of livelihood and business development is expected to hit P7.47 billion; social services, P5.12 billion; land resource management, P1.35 billion; and local governance and peace building, P705.79 million.
Nearly half of the cost (P21.79 billion) will be spent this year and P15.24 billion in 2019. The smallest amount, P766.19 million, would be spent in 2022.
Based on Navarro’s presentation, the housing and settlement projects are expected to be completed by 2019, while the PPAs in other sectors will run until 2022.
The total rehabilitation cost will cover 734 PPAs. The highest number of PPAs at 267 will be for livelihood and business development. About 237 PPAs are related to physical infrastructure.
There are also 112 PPAs for local governance and peace building; 68 for social services; 31 for land resource management; and 28 for housing and settlement.
Last month Navarro said the total amount could still change pending estimates of the cost of right-of-way acquisition, which includes the cost of land, as well as compensation for relocation.
The total amount, Navarro added, will also change as the government decided to compensate families who lost loved ones during last year’s Marawi siege. Compensation for those who died during the five-month conflict is one of the things Marawi residents seek from the government.
Navarro said should the government pursue paying these families, the compensation package could be patterned after the compensation fund for those who died during the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York. She added it could also be patterned with Israel’s.
Navarro said the bulk of the BM program will be sourced from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management fund, as well as from nongovernment sources, such as development partners and the private sector.
Image credits: AP