ON THE WAY TO REBUILDING WAR-TORN MARAWI CITY
Five big developers are expected to submit “unsolicited” proposals to rebuild war-torn Marawi City by Jan. 15. Housing czar Eduardo del Rosario declined to identify them, but he said the contract will be awarded by midApril. The winning developer will rehabilitate a 250-hectare area in the city that is deemed as “most affected” during the five-month battle between government forces and the pro-Islamic State terrorists. Del Rosario said the proposals will be subjected to a Swiss Challenge, a procurement process that allows the government to receive an unsolicited bid for a project and after publishing its details, invite third parties to match or even exceed the offer.
Five big developers are expected to submit “unsolicited” proposals to rebuild war-torn Marawi City by Jan. 15, housing czar Eduardo del Rosario said.
Del Rosario, chairperson of Task Force Bangon Marawi, declined to identify the developers but said that one would be awarded by mid-April the contract to rehabilitate Marawi.
The winning developer, Del Rosario said, would rehabilitate a 250-hectare area in Marawi that is deemed as “most affected” during the five-month battle between the government forces and the pro-Islamic State (IS) terrorists.
“I think it’s premature to name (the developers) but it is safe to say that we have five big developers. They will be submitting their unsolicited proposals by Jan. 15,” he said.
“And based on the study of our experts, we met last Wednesday ( Jan. 3) and yesterday ( Jan. 4), the earliest time that we can start with actual groundwork is April 15. Now, how will it go? We will select from those five. We organized a technical working group to select from the five based on their submission,” he added.
Marawi, home to 200,000 individuals, was under siege by the Maute Group, which went on a rampage after a military opera- tion failed to arrest terrorist leader Isnilon Hapilon.
Fighting broke out on May 23, 2017, but government troops were able to retake the city on October 23 the same year.
According to the Task Force Bangon Marawi’s post-conflict needs assessment, the Marawi crisis resulted in P11.61-billion total damage and over P6.6-billion total losses.
Del Rosario said government would hold a Swiss Challenge, a procurement process that allows the government to receive an unsolicited bid for a project and after publishing its details, invite third parties to match or even exceed the offer.
He said the selection of one developer was meant to make the Marawi rehabilitation “synchronized.”
“Once we have selected the proponent, the proponent and technical working group will come up with the details, terms of reference, and scope of work,” he added.