Monument stands alone
26-JUL-2008 Intellasia | Thanhniennews
Jul 26, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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A project started six-years ago to honor the heroic spirit of local residents of a southern province has not been completed even though the budget is almost used up.
In August 2002, Long An Province People's Committee approved a monument in the area of about 62,000 square metres in Ward 5 of Tan An Town.
According to the plan approved by the provincial administration, the site includes a park, a set of granite monuments and pottery paintings depicting the bravery of local people during the war.
The monument and two paintings have been finished but the park has not yet been developed.
The monument is left standing alone in the middle of the construction site.
Meanwhile, the two paintings are kept at the artist's house because there is no place to put them at the construction site.
Although the work is incomplete, the budget is almost exhausted.
The contractor has spent 72.3 billion dong (US$4.33 million) of the total allocation of 74.7 billion dong (US$4.47 million).
Dang Van Xuong, director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, admitted that the development of the park had been delayed because the project management did not keep a close watch on the activities of the contractor.
According to the project management, all the public works in the park, including a square, a parking lot, electric lights and watering system were still being planned and would be installed over the next two-years.
That means the project would be finished by 2010, the management said.
Nguyen Van Thanh, deputy head of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Cultural Project Management, said the project had stalled because of a delay in the land transfer.
"The project is a work of art that needs high artistic value, the construction process had to be assessed by the advisory panel and the provincial administration, which lead to the project delay," he said.
Thanh also explained surging material prices since 2007 had hindered the completion of the project.
For example, the price for a kilogram of steel has jumped from 5,000 dong (US$0.30) when the project was launched to 20,000 dong (US$1.20), he said.
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