The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is building a PHP25 million modern public market that will serve as an “economic engine” to spur the economy of an upland town in Maguindanao.

In a statement Monday, Minister Naguib Sinarimbo of the BARMM’s Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) has expressed hope that the project will improve people’s lives in Barira, a former war-torn municipality in Maguindanao.

“This is to boost the local economy and improve government services of Barira,” said Sinarimbo, who led the groundbreaking ceremonies for the project in the municipality on Sunday.

Barira is one of the conflict-affected towns in the province that is being converted into a bustling agricultural center.

The public market project is funded under the Bangsamoro Local Economic Support Services (BLESS) program that targets to provide and ameliorate local economic enterprise infrastructure and support facilities of the local government units (LGUs) across the region.

Sinarimbo said the Barira LGU expected to operate and maintain income-generating enterprise support to spur local economic growth and activities and offer opportunities to constituents in the area.

He said the BARMM government is building more infrastructure projects in Barira to showcase economic development in former war-torn areas across the region.

“This is just the beginning. We are also looking at improving the water system for tourism potential,” Sinarimbo added.

In a separate statement Monday, Barira Vice Mayor Bahrain Dagalangit expressed his gratitude for the continuous support of the BARMM government to them.

“The project provided by MILG-BARMM, together with all the road projects and other infrastructure, has helped a lot the people of Barira, one of the most affected towns during the war,” Dagalangit said.

Simultaneous with the groundbreaking was the inspection by the BARMM officials on the ongoing road construction that would connect Barira in Maguindanao to Butig in Lanao del Sur. (PNA)