The Duterte administration will accept unsolicited proposals for the reconstruction of war-torn Marawi City, an official said on Friday.

In a press briefing in Malacanang, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Chairperson Eduardo del Rosario said they will no longer hold a bidding for the firm that will reconstruct Marawi.

"Well, actually we are not going to conduct bidding. What we did here, we called all probable developers, big-time developers, foreign and national," he said.

"We allowed them to see the most affected area, the 24 barangays. And they will be submitting their unsolicited proposal," Del Rosario, also the government's point man in rebuilding Marawi, said.

Once the unsolicited proposals were submitted, del Rosario said he would present them to the Cabinet to decide which is "the best concept" to be applied in Marawi to make it "much, much better."

"Once the proponent is selected, this will be subjected to Swiss challenge. But that any developer can challenge that development project with corresponding amount. Let’s say, he said, 'We will do it at 100 billion (pesos). Here comes another developer: 'We can only do it… we can do it similarly for 75 billion (pesos)'," he explained.

"When it is challenged, and the initial proponent cannot afford the 75 billion (pesos), the project will go the other developer," he said.

Del Rosario said this is a better and faster process instead of holding a bidding.

The government has yet to complete post-conflict needs assessment in Marawi.

There were several estimates, such as P50 billion and P90 billion, as to the amount needed to rebuild Marawi. Celerina Monte/DMS