VietNamNet Bridge - "Hanoi currently has 600 relics that are seriously degraded. We need about VND6 trillion ($286 million) to repair the relics and this is a very big amount," said Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism – Mr. Truong Minh Tien.

Living like prehistoric men, Duong Lam villagers cry for help

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Two-story houses in ancient village of Duong Lam

An ancient house in Duong Lam Village.

Talking to the press last week about Hanoi’s plan on preserving monuments, Tien said the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in collaboration with the Department of Planning and Architecture had designed a conservation planning for Duong Lam ancient village. The plan has been submitted to the Hanoi People's Committee for approval.

For the One Pillar Pagoda, Tien said the Department coordinated with Ba Dinh District to implement a project to fix the roof of the temple. However, a recent inspection showed that the temple roof has not been thoroughly repaired. The renovation project of the temple has been submitted to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for evaluation.

According to Tien, Hanoi has more than 5,000 historic sites, including 600 monuments which are seriously degraded and may collapse anytime.

"Each monument needs VND10 billion ($500,000) for restoration so we need VND6 trillion for preservation. This is a huge number. Hanoi can mobilize only VND1 trillion annually for this task," Tien added.

To find funding for preservation of relics, Hanoi has called for private firms to participate in this task. In addition, 60 seriously-damaged monuments will be restored by VND304 billion ($15 million) from the national target program. The Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has asked the city to set up a preventive fund to urgently repair seriously-downgraded relics.

T. Van