VietNamNet Bridge – Facing strong criticisms, Quang Nam province authorities have decided to halt the construction of the VND410 billion ($20 million) monument in honor of heroic Vietnamese mothers, to wait for the government’s instruction.

Quang Nam’s $20 million monument spurs controversy

The local Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has been requested to conduct a thorough review of the entire project.

Priority is to be given to the main work of the project and any unnecessary subsidiary work items must be stopped. Despite possible modifications, the construction schedules that have been set for the main work on the monument will be maintained, according to a local official.

At a government’s press conference on September 26, Chairman of the Government Office, Vu Duc Dam, confirmed that in this situation, the state budget is only available for urgent projects, not for the monument project.

Work on the monument was started on July 27, 2007, on 15 hectares of land in the Cam Mountain area in Tam Phu Commune, Tam Ky City and is expected to be completed in late 2012.

In July 2011, the authorities had allowed the investor to increase the monument’s total investment to VND410 billion (nearly US$20 million) from VND81 billion, or an increase of nearly five times.

However, the decision was strongly criticized by the general public, who said the project is wasteful while many heroic mothers whose sons died in the war are living in extreme hardship and poverty.

Vietnam has at least 44,253 Vietnamese heroic mothers who are still alive, according to the preliminary statistics gathered. Most of them are in their 90s and currently languishing in abject penury.

PV