Failure of talks with China-led consortium delays Marawi rehab
The government has reset the groundbreaking of the massive development of war-torn Marawi City from this month to late August after negotiations with a China-led consortium broke down.
Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman Eduardo del Rosario announced that government’s negotiations with Bangon Marawi Consortium (BMC) for the P16-billion Marawi development were unsuccessful after it failed to meet certain financial, technical, and legal requirements.
The government instead started to negotiate with another Chinese group, Power Construction Corporation of China or PowerChina, as a potential Marawi developers, according to Del Rosario who chais Task Force Bangon Marawi.
“Unfortunately, we could not meet that indicative timeline because we had an unsuccessful negotiation with the Bangon Marawi Consortium and now we are on the process of negotiating with the next in line, which is the China Power,” Del Rosario said during a Palace press briefing.
“With regard to the details of the ongoing negotiations, I was informed that the groundbreaking is reset on the third or last week of August. So with this new development, we could not undertake the groundbreaking this month so instead it will be on third or fourth week of August,” he added.
Del Rosario assured that the delay in the groundbreaking would not affect the target date of completion, which is last quarter of 2021.
“With regard to the timeline set by the government, we are on time. We program the rehabilitation in such a way that we will be able to complete not later than December of 2021,” he said.
The BMC, composed of Filipino and Chinese property developers, earlier proposed a P16-billion development plan to rebuild 250 hectares of Marawi’s ground zero following a five-month terror siege. The proposal included wider road networks, ports and wharves, and transport terminal hub, for Marawi.
With the disqualification of BMC, Task Force Bangon Marawi has chosen PowerChina, the second on the list of companies that gave unsolicited proposals for Marawi development, for a possible joint venture agreement.
Del Rosario said PowerChina must still partner with a local company to comply with the 75 percent Filipino equity requirement.
He said the government would not go beyond the P16 billion indicative cost of the Marawi development until there is a “justifiable reason.”
If the negotiations with PowerChina will be successful, the government will commence the Swiss challenge where other parties can match or surpass the project proposal.