MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur (PIA)--The head of the Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) remains confident that the rehabilitation of the war-torn city is on track and will be completed as targeted despite delays caused by the coronavirus disease (Covid)-19 pandemic and bad weather conditions.

In a virtual press conference, July 8, Secretary Eduardo del Rosario admitted that the pandemic and weather conditions in Marawi have adversely affected the progress of the rehabilitation.

He cited the stoppage of work during the enhanced community quarantine, workers getting infected with the virus, and the implementation of health protocols as some of the pandemic-related factors that affected the ongoing rehabilitation works.

'The second challenge now which has been ongoing for the past few months is yung weather condition in Marawi City. Every time I go there yung project site namin napakaputik, hindi makapagdeliver ng supplies, hindi makapagtrabaho yung ating mga workers ng continuous. Kaya iniemphasize namin na let’s do some overtime , at ang mayor ng Marawi City bumili siya ng mga electric generators so that they can work in the evening to compensate due to the bad weather condition prevailing now in the city,” he said.

(Every time I go there our project site is very muddy, supplies can’t be delivered, our workers can't work continuously. So we emphasized doing some overtime, and the mayor of Marawi City even bought electric generators so that they can work in the evening  to compensate due to the  bad weather condition prevailing now in the city)

The TFBM chief said they have to contend with these two challenges but workers, implementing agencies, and contractors are doing their best to mitigate and ensure that projects started last year will be completed by December 2021.

Del Rosario, who also heads the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, reassured that projects which started July to September last year will be completed by December of 2021. This, he said, is about 60%-70% of the total projects to be constructed.

On the other hand, all the projects that started late last year and early this year will be completed next year within the term of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. (APB/PIA-10/ICIC)