Visitors to the War Remnant Museum in HCM City (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) - The Ho Chi MinhCity People’s Committee plans to allocate more than 700 billion VND (30 millionUSD) for renovation and preservation of cultural heritage sites and buildingsin the 2019-2020 period, according to the city’s Department of Culture andSports.
The city has a total of 172recognised relics, including two special national-level relics, 56national-level relics and the remaining at city level, said Huynh Thanh Nhan, Directorof the city’s Department of Culture and Sports.
Nearly 100 sites are seeking recognition asrelics, Nhan said at a workshop held in HCM City this week.
The city has also encouraged private investorsto take part in preservation of cultural heritage sites, he said.
Many relics have been damaged seriously due topoor management and preservation efforts as well as limited funds forpreservation, he added.
Dang Van Bai, Vice Chairman of the Cultural HeritageAssociation of Vietnam, said that failure in urban planning had led to thedisappearance of many heritage sites.
Rapid urbanisation had led to unplannedconstruction of high-rise buildings along historically famous streets such asNguyen Hue, Le Loi, Ham Nghi, Le Duan and Ton Duc Thang, damaging the historicvalue of these boulevards, Bai said.
Le Tu Cam, Chairwoman of the HCM City CulturalHeritage Association, said the preservation of cultural heritage was vital forthe city’s sustainable development.
The tourism sector should also contribute to thepreservation of cultural heritage sites, which greatly benefit the local tourismsector, Cam said.
Only 40 recognised relics in the city arecurrently listed on city tours, according to the HCM City MonumentsConservation Centre.
Many relics have not been properly used to makethem interesting tourist attractions, said Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong, head of theDepartment of Tourism’s tourism resource planning office.-VNA
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