JICA-funded Marawi road rehabilitation project launched

LANAO DEL SUR, Philippines — Residents of battle-scarred Marawi City stand to benefit from a P970-million road rehabilitation project funded by the Japanese government.

In a statement emailed Thursday, Lanao del Sur Vice Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Jr. said the project was launched in Marawi City last Monday.

Adiong said the symbolic launch of the project was led by Japanese Ambassador Koji Haneda, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar and Assistant Secretary Emil Sadain.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, is helping rebuild Marawi City from the devastation from the five-month conflict in 2017 between government forces and Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists.

The hostilities left more than a thousand people dead, among them 112 soldiers and police personnel, displaced no fewer than 200,000 residents and left dozens of centuries-old communities in ruins.

The road improvement program is focused on engineering works on the 9.5-kilometer Marawi Transcentral Road and its arterial sections with a total span of 20.8 kilometers, the Bacong-Poona Marantao-Marawi Road, the Marawi-Cadre-New Capitol Road, the Marcos Boulevard, and the Lumidon-Amai Pakpak Avenue.

Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra said his administration is thankful to the Japanese government for helping the city's barangays rebuild.

Marawi City is the capital of Lanao del Sur, which covers 39 towns.

Adiong said the JICA-assisted road rebuilding package will also usher in socio-economic advantages to residents of Lanao del Sur towns around Marawi City.