MANILA - - The government is set to announce on Jan. 15 the entities that submitted proposals to help fund the rehabilitation of Marawi City.
Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Wednesday bared this after noting the current administration’s decision to consider as a financing option getting of unsolicited proposals to fund Marawi City’s rehabilitation.
In a briefing Wednesday, Diokno said the amount needed for the rehabilitation was yet to be finalized but as early as this time they had decided to open the financing to private sector participation.
“It’s open to Swiss challenge,” he said.
Swiss challenge is a process wherein a bid by one group can be challenged by other groups and awarding of the winner will depend on who submitted the best proposal based on the requirement by the entity needing it.
Recently, Malacanang said rehabilitation of Marawi City, which was damaged by months-long firefights between government troopers and terrorist Maute Group, needed at least PHP50 billion.
Authorities placed the damage in the Mindanaoan city to be around PHP18.21 billion.
The government has allocated an initial PHP10 billion for the rehabilitation, and this was sourced for the available funds from the 2017 national budget.
Diokno said Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chair Eduardo Del Rosario was scheduled to announce the bidders who submitted unsolicited proposals on January 15.
“It’s important to keep it on the wraps first,” he said, noting that bid of the first proponent who would be able to submit the complete requirements would be the basis for the Swiss challenge.
The Budget and Management chief explained that that Duterte administration had expanded the mode of how construction of infrastructure programs would be financed to be able to fast-track its implementation.
He said the government had also decided to pay the private contractor the initial amount for the construction only after about 50 percent of the project had been completed to ensure that the contractor really had the capacity to finish the project because it had the needed funds. (PNA)
