Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) – The central province of Thua Thien-Hue will splashout more than 4 trillion VND (172 million USD) relocating 4,201 householdsillegally residing in the ancient citadel’s walls by 2025.

At a meeting held by the provincial People’s Council on July 8 to review thesocio-economic achievements in the first half, the authority revealed that 2.73trillion VND would be used for land clearance process, while the remainder isfor the construction of a resettlement area.

The illegal housing andlodging started after the war due to the upheaval as well as the wrongperception of local authorities over the role of the Nguyen Dynasty inVietnamese history.

There were several ways of occupying the walls. The majority of them have builtconcrete structures, breaking part of the wall to make entrance alleys. Manyothers construct temporary houses on top and erect wooden ladders to reachthem. Others have made use of collapsed sections, clearing the debris forhousing or demolishing the wall themselves to construct homes.

The largenumber of illegal residents has caused critical damage and subsidence to thewall. Wastewater and farming activities on the top of the wall have also causederosion. Therefore, it is important to protect the site, especially as allrelics built by the Nguyen dynasty in Hue were reconised as world culturalheritages by the UNESCO.

At the event, the local authority said it supported the construction of newterminal and apron at Phu Bai International Airport, and helped Vietravel setup its own airline in Thua Thien-Hue as well as Bamboo Airways and othercarriers to open new routes.

Besides, focus was given to the upgrade of Cam Lo- La Son highway, andconstruction of four-lane Hai Van tunnel.

Regarding the new-style rural building programme, the province is striving tohave 54-58 communes bestowed with the status, or 53 percent of the totalcommunes.

In the first half, the province continued carrying out the “Hue- the capital ofgastronomy” project, developing smart tourism information system, and creatinga smart space to turn itself into a friendly destination for visitors, amongothers.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Phan Ngoc Tho said that theprovince had better socio-economic performance as compared to the same timelast year.

The gross regional domestic product (GRDP) expanded 6.87 percent, a moderategrowth in the central area. Meanwhile, the province’s state budget collectionstood at 3.8 trillion VND, and nearly 8,700 jobs were generated for locallabourers.

During January-June, the province granted investment licenses for 16 projects,and approved capital adjustment for 4 projects, which had a combined value ofover 28 trillion VND.

Also in the period, the locality earned 2.32 trillion VND from hosting 2.49million visitors, up 2.1 percent and 4.6 percent respectively.

However, Tho said the GRDP growth did not meet the set target, and the economicgrowth lagged behind expectations due to shortage of breakthrough measures. Inaddition, incomprehensive tourism infrastructure and lack of excellent toursmade the locality not attractive enough for visitors to stay longer.-VNA