The HCMC People’s Council, at a meeting on October 8, endorsed the city’s proposal to build a symphony-opera-ballet theater in Thu Thiem New Urban Area in District 2, at a cost of VND1.508 trillion sourced from the funds collected from auctioning the land lot at 23 Le Duan Street, District 1.

The Saigon Opera House at 7 Cong Truong Lam Son in District 1, HCMC 

According to the proposal, the opera house is designed to meet international standards. It is expected to have a spacious hall capable of accommodating 1,200 guests and a smaller hall with a capacity of 500 people. The Construction Investment Management Board under the Department of Culture and Sports will be the owner of the project, which is slated for completion in 2022.

The HCMC government said the construction of the venue was aimed at meeting the art demands of over 10 million people and millions of foreigners. The theater is expected to become a new cultural symbol of the city.

Besides this, the new opera house helps enhance the development of art, diversify artistic performances, promote quality, preserve and develop the national culture, and promote spiritual values.

At the meeting, however, some delegates remained hesitant about the opera house project.

Vo Thi Ngoc Thuy questioned whether the new venue would attract spectators when the city is already home to the Hoa Binh Opera and Saigon Opera House and whether the city had surveyed the number of symphony and opera fans yet.

After the HCMC departments and agencies had resolved the queries put forth, all the delegates agreed with the plan to construct the Thu Thiem-based opera house.

The municipal council on October 8 also approved a school milk program aimed at improving nutrition and the physical stature of kindergarten and primary-school students in HCMC during the 2018-2020 period.

Accordingly, the pilot program will be applied to kindergarten and first-grade students in the outlying districts of Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, Nha Be, Can Gio and Binh Chanh. In the 2019-2020 academic year, the program will be extended to all kindergarten and first-grade students citywide.

Total funding for the program in the 2018-2020 period is some VND1.135 trillion, of which some VND350 billion will be subsidized by the State budget and some VND240 billion will be covered by enterprises supplying milk. Students and parents are expected to contribute some VND548 billion, or 50% of the total funding to buy the milk.

The HCMC government, at the meeting, received the council’s approval of a proposal to invest in public projects with total investment capital of VND8.48 trillion, as well as a proposal on the rights to govern the auctions of land-attached properties and land use transfers in the city and a proposal on investment in the city’s supporting industries.

SGT