Rehabilitation in typhoon-hit areas 62 pct accomplished: Philippine gov't

The Philippine government, along with development partners, has reached 62 percent in its recovery and rehabilitation efforts in areas devastated by typhoon Haiyan, locally named as Yolanda, two years ago, a senior government official said on Thursday.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Arsenio Balisacan said of the overall weighted physical accomplishment (OWPA) of completed and ongoing Yolanda programs, projects and activities (PPAs), 30.3 percent were completed and 33.1 percent have been ongoing.

Most of the ongoing projects are scheduled for completion by 2016, he said.

Balisacan admitted that resettlement of the survivors from the danger zones continues to be the most challenging among the recovery efforts.

To date, only a total of 13,335 housing units have been completed, with construction of 79,219 houses ongoing and scheduled for completion by December 2016.

Among the issues slowing down the building of resettlement sites are policies on procurement and land acquisition and the many required permits and clearances needed to start certain projects, the official said.

NEDA said it is intensively coordinating efforts to address these policy and implementation issues with the concerned agencies.

Haiyan struck the country in December 2013, killing at least 6,300 people and leaving millions of families homeless. Endit