Japan’s P970 million Marawi road program launched

LANAO DEL SUR --- Residents of the conflict-stricken Marawi City stand to benefit from a P970 million road rehabilitation project funded by the Japanese government.In a statement emailed Thursday to media outfits in central Mindanao, Lanao del Sur Vice Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Jr. said the project was launched in Marawi City last Monday.Adiong said the symbolic launching of the project was led by Japanese Ambassador Koji Haneda, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar and his assistant secretary, Engineer Emil Sadain.The Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, is helping rebuild Marawi City from devastation caused by the five-month conflict in 2017 that combined Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists instigated.The hostilities left more than a thousand people dead, among them 112 soldiers and police personnel, dislocated no fewer than 200,000 residents and left dozens of historic centuries-old Meranao enclaves 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 reconstruct the conflict-wracked barangays under his jurisdiction.Marawi City is the capital of Lanao del Sur, which covers 39 towns, now component-areas of the newly-established Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.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.