MARAWI CITY (MindaNews / 24 July) – Fifty permanent shelter units for internally displaced persons (IDPs) will be built in Barangay Kilala here under UN-Habitat’s Rebuilding Marawi through Shelter and Livelihood Project, an undertaking funded by the Japanese government.
Twelve homeowners associations composed of IDPs have signed a project partnership agreement with the 55th Engineer Brigade of the Philippine Army for the construction of the 50 shelter units.
Temporary shelters in Barangay Sagonsongan, Marawi City. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
Architect Warren Ubongen, UN Habitat Project Manager said Mayor Majul Gandamra has approved the construction of the houses on a 70-hectare area provided by the National Housing Authority (NHA).
“Each shelter unit is a one-story structure and will be constructed on a 90-square meter lot, concrete with steel frame, with a total floor area of 46 square meters.
It will include a toilet and kitchen and comes with electrical and plumbing system with an estimated cost of P450,000 per unit,” Ubongen said.
But he clarified that under the project the target is to build 250 shelter units in Kilala and 1,250 more in other areas of the city.
“The other areas where there is ongoing shelter construction are Barangay Gadongan, in partnership with NHA and the provincial government of Lanao del Sur, and Barangay Dulay West together with the Social Housing Financing Corporation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development,” he said.
Ubongen said the use of steel frame technology aims to shorten construction from 28 days to 16 days per unit and ensure structural durability. He said the structure can withstand a 7.
5-magnitude quake.
He said the partnership with the 55th Engineer Brigade aims “to fast-track the shelter construction now that there are available areas where we can actually build, an opportunity that was not present to us seven or six months ago.”
Marawi’s commercial district was reduced to rubble after the five-month siege by Islamic State-inspired militants in 2017. Many families displaced by the conflict continue to live in temporary shelters.
Residents had complained about the delayed rehabilitation of the country’s lone Islamic city. (Richel V. Umel/MindaNews)
