ILIGAN CITY -- Some 500 to 600 temporary shelters for evacuees being constructed at Barangay Sagongsongan, Marawi City, are set to be completed as scheduled by December 15, according to the Task Force Bangon Marawi (FTBM).
The government is constructing 1,200 houses at the 11-hectare land owned by different families.
These will be temporary shelters of families whose houses are inside the main battle area in Marawi City, destroyed by terrorists escaping from the government forces or by aerial bombardment.
According to Assistant Secretary Felix Castro, Jr., field office manager of TFBM, the temporary shelters will be completed despite delays caused by unfavorable weather conditions.
Five contractors have been assigned to five areas to work simultaneously on the pre-fabricated houses under the supervision of the National Housing Authority (NHA).
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have also been working on the road network, land preparation, landscaping, and lots excavation.
Heavy equipment from the DPWH provincial engineering districts have been redeployed to the area to also work overtime on the road network which is set to be finished on November 25.
But a construction worker of one of the construction firms, who requested not to be named, said they are having a hard time finishing the work because of a lack in manpower.
“Naghinay-hinay pud og pangawala ang mga trabahante namo diri kay tagdugay ang sweldo. Ang mga materyales pud kay dugay mangabot, unsaon namo pagtrabaho nga walay materyales (Some workers have gone home because of delayed salaries. There have also been delays in the delivery of building materials),” said the construction worker of the Golden Gate Construction (GGC).
When journalists visited Sagongsongan last July 30, a worker of the GGC said, he was leading 80 workers that time and was expecting another 40 to arrive a week after.
He added, if they only have complete sets of materials, the 15 of them can finish one unit per day.
Castro said the DPWH is on track finishing the number of houses targeted to be turned over to the beneficiaries next month.
At present, the TFBM is concentrating on the return of families to the nine villages declared by the military "cleared" from the terrorists’ presence and unexploded ordnance that started last October 29, according to Castro.
While it is looking into the needs of those who are still staying at the evacuation center, the task force is at the same time making sure that the electrification and water system in the returned areas have no problem.
Of the nine villages, according to Castro, only three have not yet connected to the water district.
Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative general manager Nordjiana Ducol said that as of November 9, power supply of the 63 villages unaffected by war have also been fully restored.
“5 out of 14 municipalities in District 1 and 8 out of 15 municipalities in the second district of Lanao del Sur while the five municipalities in Lanao del Norte where power supply is interrupted during the siege has now energized fully,” Ducol said.