Hundreds of relic sites in Hanoi suffer from serious degradation and need prompt repair, but the estimated costs amounting to trillions of dong surpass the city’s financial capacity.

The thousand-year-old Hanoi city is home to 5,847 historical relic sites, including one world heritage site, 11 special national relics and 1,167 national sites.

Statistics of the municipal Department of Culture and Sports, around 2,000 relics have been damaged to some extent, with more than 200 in need of urgent repair.

According to Nguyen Tung Lam, head of the Culture and Information Department of Phu Xuyen District, 20 local relic sites are in danger of collapsing any time. Last year, the district authorities spent 400 million VND on repairing Co Che Temple but it was not sufficient to improve its condition. Lam added that the temple has been included in the list of relics to be upgraded using the city’s budget during 2016-2020.

Phuc Tho District also reported nearly 30 seriously degraded relics, such as Se, Ba Ti and Tang Non Pagodas, and Hieu Hiep, Yen Duc and Ngoc Tao Temples. The district allocates several billion VND on relic upgrade each year but the amount is far from enough, said Vu Hong Hai, deputy head of the district’s Culture and Information Department.

According to Hanoi’s regulations, local authorities are responsible for the preservation and repair of relic sites under their management. Funding for the work comes from the three main sources, which are allocations from the State budget, fees collected from the use of relics for tourism purposes and social investment.

However, with the large number of degraded relics, many local administrations are unable to pay for the work.

In seeking solution to the problem, head of the city’s relic site management board Nguyen Thi Hoa said the board plans to survey and draft a long-term plan for the preservation and upgrade of relic sites depending on their importance and level of damage.

According to the official, priority should be given to special national relics, relics of the resistance wars and those dating back to the Le and Nguyen Dynasties.

During 2013-2015, 35 relic sites in Hanoi were given a facelift, with the municipal budget paying out an average 17-18 billion VND for each site.

This year, the city will dole out part of the costs for the repair of 44 classified sites.

VNA