Housing czar Eduardo del Rosario on Sunday said the government is working non-stop to energize and connect Marawi City in Lanao del Sur to a water system with work expected to fully begin within a couple of weeks as part of the overall effort to completely rehabilitate the war-torn city.
He said the rehabilitation works are set to be undertaken both to fully restore electricity and bring in water to the city’s most affected area.
“Everything will be completed within the term of the President,” he said.
“This is a manifestation that the instruction of the President… for him that he will soon see that Marawi City will rise again, and we commit ourselves, we will comply,” he added.
Del Rosario, also the Task Force Bangon Marawi chief, said Local Water Utilities Administration administrator Jesli Lapus has already received funds for the construction of a pumping station for the water connection project in the most affected area, while a funding has also been secured for the Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative for the construction of a power sub-station.
The restoration of power and water connection system in the most affected areas are part of the 22 projects that have been designed to fully rehabilitate Marawi City before the end of the administration of President Duterte.
Del Rosario said 20 of the projects would be completed by end of December 2021, while the two other projects would have been constructed 95 percent, and fully completed by March 2022. (Rio)
Meanwhile, Vice President Leni Robredo called for a “more urgent approach” in the rehabilitation efforts for Marawi City in Lanao del Sur, three years after the city was liberated from an armed conflict.
In a statement, Robredo said “equitable and inclusive progress” should be achieved for the people of Marawi, adding affected residents r noting that thousands of residents remained displaced.
“Liberation entails much more than silencing the gunfire,” she said.
“Today we remember the Marawi we lost, even as we renew the call for a more urgent approach to the rehabilitation process, and recommit to the rebuilding of a more peaceful and prosperous city,” she said.
“The siege may have been lifted, but the Marawi of today reminds us: violent extremism remains among the biggest threats to society. And to truly address it, frustrations must be met with compassion… Equitable and inclusive progress must be achieved for the people of Marawi,” she added.
The Battle of Marawi or the Siege of Marawi was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi that started on May 23, 2017 between Philippine government security forces and militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and Maute and Abu Sayyaf Salafi jihadist groups.
