JICA surveys damages on Marawi roads due to conflict

LANAO DEL SUR --- The Japanese government is conducting a survey on damages to road networks in Marawi City due to last year’s conflict instigated by combined Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists.The May 23 to October 16, 2017 siege of Marawi City by the two Islamic State-inspired groups displaced thousands, resulted in the deaths of hundreds, among them state security men, and left historic, centuries-old Maranao enclaves in ruins.Salma Jayne Tamano, information officer of the Lanao del Sur provincial government, said Thursday the study being initiated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, most known as JICA, aims to determine the extent of the damages the conflict had caused to the roads criss-crossing Marawi City.Marawi City is the capital of Lanao del Sur, a component-province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.JICA has been funding socio-economic projects focused on poverty alleviation, the construction of peace roads designed to boost commerce and trade and on health and educational interventions in far flung ARMM towns for about two decades now.The entity has even initiated an extensive study four years ago on the viability of a linked overland arterial network connecting all trading centers in ARMM provinces --- Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi --- in support of the regional administration’s bid to improve the local investment climate.Japan is also a staunch benefactor of the current peace overture between Malacañang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and even has a representative to the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team observing since 2003 the compliance by both sides with an interim truce crafted in July 1997 by government and rebel negotiators.Tamano said JICA is aware that many of the roads in Marawi City’s more than 90 barangays were destroyed by powerful ordnances and improvised explosive devices during last year’s five-month showdown by government forces and misguided militants operating in the fashion of the Islamic State.Tamano said Lanao del Sur Gov. Soraya Alonto-Adiong is thankful to JICA and to President Rodrigo Duterte for the on-going survey on damages wrought by the conflict, which affected no fewer than 300,000 Marawi City residents.ARMM public works officials said Thursday the main purpose of JICA’s effort is to assess the magnitude of damages in Marawi City’s barangay roads and highways, also called horizontal infrastructures in technical parlance, as basis for rehabilitation interventions.JICA’s survey is premised on three parameters, road inventory and condition study, drainage inventory and network roughness, to ensure an in-depth analysis on how engineers can best address the problem.The survey started in February 13 yet, but was not immediately announced to prevent from getting sabotaged by militant groups aiming to stifle the rebuilding of conflict-torn areas in Marawi City and nearby towns.Tamano said the on-going JICA survey is expected to be completed in the next three months.Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra, presiding chairman of the inter-agency peace and order council, said his office is supporting the initiative.Gamdamra, a first-termer mayor, said residents of Marawi City are glad with the efforts of JICA, which is helping restore normalcy in the area with imprimatur from Duterte.