Project "Ho Chi Minh Trail by Sea" Monumental Park under drafting

Ben Tre Province's leadership are drafting an official letter to propose to the Government Prime Minister to develop the project to build the "Ho Chi Minh Trail by Sea" Monumental Park at the former beach-head site. At the same time, the province's leadership are also planning to work with related ministries to seek approval from the central Government for financing the project.

The future project is said to be built on the surface area of 534 ha on the Bung Islet in Thanh Hai Commune, Thanh Phu District, where there is one of the beach-heads (including Do Son, Nhat Le, Da Nang, Quang Ngai, Phu Yen, Ba Ria, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, and Ca Mau) to receive weaponry and armunition supports from the North during the revolutionary war against the American invasion.
On the project site, a 1,000-time minimized Viet Nam is said to be comprised of all former beach-heads, where the famous numberless ships dropped by during the war, with typical arts and cultural features and structures of each locality, such as communal houses, pagodas, temples, Dolphin Temples, sea ports, etc.

Among the main structures included is the HCMTS Museum which is said to look like an ocean park. Also, a full-scale statue of President Ho Chi Minh is considered to be erected at the heart of the park.
Once constructed and put into use, the project is not only purported to conserve the nation's cultural, historical and revolutionary values as well as to showcase and educate young generations about the nation's good traditions of gratitude to those who sacrificed their lives for the country's freedom and independence. It is also aimed to help boost the province's tourism by encouraging the development and modernization of traditional handicraft villages, encouraging investments in to develop the local prawn and seaproduct production business.

The total budget estimate for phase I of the project (from 2005 to 2010) is around 300 billion dongs. Budget estimate for phase II (from 2010 to 2015) is not yet available.

Translated by Truong Hung