SCAR OF WAR The government is preparing a rehabilitation plan for Marawi City after intense fighting between the military and Islamic State-inspired terrorists in the last four months left sections of the picturesque lakeside capital of Lanao del Norte province devastated. INQURIER file photo / JEOFFREY MAITEM
Some landowners in Marawi have raised the value of their lands as the government is looking for sites to build the housing units for the displaced residents of the war-torn city, an official said聽on Friday.
鈥淸From]the previous market value [of] P500 per square meter, the asking price [now] reached P5,000 per square meter,鈥� Adoracion Navarro, Undersecretary for Regional Development of National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said in a Bangon Marawi briefing in Malaca帽ang.
Navarro said the land acquisition cost skyrocketed 10 times the usual rate.
鈥淭he assumed cost of land is 10 times the going rate, and that is because鈥攖hat鈥檚 what being offered by the land owners in Marawi,鈥� she said.
鈥淪o you see that there is already a speculative activity as a result of the armed conflict and as a consequence of, you know, the flurry of planning activities,鈥� she added.
While Neda official said聽the spike in land acquisition cost was expected after a disaster, she said the government was careful in 鈥渁scertaining the amounts and locations鈥� for the housing projects.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 true in a post-disaster situation. There are stakeholders, even on the ground, who are taking advantage of the crisis situation,鈥� she said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why the government is being careful in ascertaining the amounts and locations of proposed different projects,鈥� she added.
But Navarro said the practice was not yet widespread in Marawi.
The market value, depends on the negotiation. 鈥淣ow, if there is a pronouncement from a government official that will effectively say that: 鈥淣o, we won鈥檛 accept 10 times the former market value of the land in Marawi,鈥� then that pronouncement of an official can be effective in sort of reducing the speculative activities,鈥� he said.
鈥淎nd I鈥檓 hoping that the Task Force Chair makes strong statements to address this,鈥� he added.
Government officials had earlier said that the rehabilitation of Marawi was estimated at P72 billion. /jpv
RELATED STORY