The National Housing Authority (NHA) on Thursday started building up new houses for residents displaced by the October quakes in Magsaysay.
NHA General Manager Marcelino Escalada personally came to supervise the construction of an initial 71 units of prefabricated houses in Barangay Malawanit.
Anthony Allada, the Magsaysay Information Officer, said the NHA has earmarked funds for the construction of 2,002 units all over the town but the one in Malawanit came ahead because it was there that the purchase for a relocation area had been done first.
“There are 13 relocation sites but Malawanit is the pilot area because it was the first to purchase a lot,” Allada said, adding that the construction of housing units in other relocation sites would soon follow.
Allada said the construction of the units was seen to take only a short time because what the NHA did was to lay down the materials for the flooring.
“The prefabricated materials will be attached there, with steel bolts. This would be faster than starting from zero,” he said.
Allada said each house costs about PHP200,000. He said the local government, led by Mayor Arthur Davin, also had its counterpart activity for the construction of the houses. “Our counterpart is the land preparation,” he said.
Magsaysay town was one of the worst-hit areas in Davao del Sur during the October quakes with hundreds of houses flattened.
Houses that did not crumble during the October quakes had shattered when the 6.9-magnitude quake struck Padada town, also in Davao del Sur, on Dec. 16, 2019.
Source: PNA
