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The project was approved in August 2007 with initial capital of VND81 billion (over $4 million). The construction began on July 27, 2007 and is expected to be complete late 2012.
This is the largest monument in Vietnam and perhaps in Southeast Asia. The work is named among national cultural works.
The monument, including the major statue and eight supportive elements, is made of granite and the image of the heroic mother is to be made after Nguyen Thi Thu, a Vietnamese heroic mother who passed away last December.
Inside the huge monument will be a 950sq.m house to honor nearly 50,000 heroic mothers across the country, and to preserve historical pictures of outstanding women in the wars of resistance against the French and Americans.
Dinh Hai, director of the Quang Nam Culture, Sports and Tourism Department, said that the monument will represent nearly 50,000 heroic mothers nationwide, so it should have a national stature.
He said that Quang Nam authorities decide to allocate an additional VND310 billion to this project to make up for adjustments to the monument design, changes of building materials and construction of additional work items, to make it deserve one of the national cultural works.
Hai said the capital for this project will come from the state budget. However, the Voice of Vietnam radio and the Vietnam Women’s Union have raised nearly VND11 billion ($500,000) from the public towards the construction. Overseas Vietnamese businesspeople in Russia and Belarus are calling for contributions to the works.
According to Hai, since April 2007, central agencies and Quang Nam authorities met many times to work on this project. Experts from the Ministries Construction and Planning and Investment said that the initially estimated capital of VND81 billion is not enough for this gigantic work. Therefore, Quang Nam authorities have decided to raise the investment to VND410 billion to make the monument “deserve one of the national cultural works.”
Hai said that $20 million is the estimated capital and it must be approved by the government.
However, many cultural experts and people said that it is necessary to build a monument to pay tribute to heroic mothers, but it is too wasteful. There are more than 44,000 living heroic mothers throughout the countries. Most of them are in their 90s and most are living in difficulties and poverty.
Many people said it is better to take care of these living mothers than investing such a huge amount of money to build a monument, while Quang Nam is a poor province. They suggested to build a medium-sized monument.
My mother’s soul would not be happy
“I was very moved when the province (Quang Nam) chose my mother as the model for the monument, but now the monument is too costly. My mother’s soul would not be happy with this,” said heroic mother Le Thi Tri, 80, daughter of heroic mother Nguyen Thi Thu.
Heroic mother Nguyen Thi Thu, in Dien Thang Trung commune, Dien Ban district, Quang Nam province, had nine children, one son-in-law and two grandchildren who sacrificed in the two wars. Mother Thu’s daughter, Le Thi Tri, is also granted the heroic mother title because her husband and two daughters are martyred soldiers.
Heroic mother Le Thi Tri said that the monument should be built in medium size to not be a waste and not lose its deep meaning.
Heroic mother Vo Thi Kha, 90, in Tu Nghia district, Quang Nam province whose husband and two sons sacrificed in the war, is living with her daughter, who is an Agent Orange victim, said: “What’s a costly monument! It should be built in smaller size. The remaining money is better to be used to take care of orphans, disabled children. Our country still has many poor locations.”
Many heroic mothers expressed their simply last wishes, for example: they wish to seek remains of their husbands and children to bury in cemeteries in their hometowns, their grandchildren to study well to become useful people, or to have money to repair their houses to worship martyrs.
Heroic mother Tran Thi Pham whose only son sacrificed in the war is living alone on Ly Son Island for nearly 50 years. The mother is poor but she is saving every coin to contribute to the local fund for poor students.
Mother Pham only wishes that remain of her son will be moved from Son Tinh district to Ly Son Island. “Don’t build a monument for me! You should use that money to help kids in the mountainous and remote regions go to school,” she said.
VietNamNet/VNE
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