Proposal to support 100% of repair costs

Proposal to support 100% of the repair costs - photo 1 — Thousands of relics and houses in Hoi An Ancient Town were deeply submerged in the recent historic flood.

At the meeting, the Hoi An World Heritage Conservation Center (Hoi An Center) requested the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Da Nang to recommend the City People's Committee to consider the policy of investing in urgent restoration of relics and houses at risk of collapse in the world cultural heritage site of Hoi An ancient town. The proposed mechanism is to support 100% of the restoration costs for relics of special value.

Many relics are seriously degraded.

According to the report of (Hoi An Center), right after the recent historic flood, on November 5, the unit presided over and coordinated with the People's Committee of Hoi An Ward and related units to carry out the work of inspecting, reviewing and assessing the status of relics in the old town and surrounding areas. Currently, in the protected area I of the World Cultural Heritage of Hoi An Ancient Town, there are more than 1,155 relics and houses, of which more than 83% are private houses. Through the survey, most of these relics are still safe. However, there are 30 relics that have been degraded, of which 9 relics are seriously degraded, 14 relics are heavily degraded, and 7 relics are slightly degraded.

The most degraded relics are located on Tran Phu Street (11 relics), Nguyen Thai Hoc Street (4 relics). In addition, they are scattered on streets such as Bach Dang, Phan Chau Trinh, Nguyen Hue, Tieu La, Le Loi, Phan Boi Chau... The relics are severely degraded in location and current status such as: The entire North-facing house: The 22v/m ² tiled roof system is seriously degraded and the wooden frame system of the roof beam is damaged by termites and is at risk of collapse. Do not use or live in the relics; The wooden structures inside the house are damaged and a truss system has fallen, at risk of collapse; The yin-yang roof system is degraded, the wooden frame system of the rafter and rafters is damaged in some places, the wooden frame system is damaged by termites, the wooden structure is damaged, the yin-yang tile roof is leaking,...

Faced with this situation, the Hoi An Center has provided emergency support for a relic (house number 23 Tieu La), and at the same time, mobilized 19 relic owners to reinforce and support their structures themselves. For 10 seriously degraded relics, the Center proposed urgent restoration or temporary demolition because they could no longer ensure safety. At the same time, it has asked the relic owners to proactively take measures to temporarily support damaged areas.

However, to limit the risk of collapse of the relic and ensure the safety of people living inside the relic, the authorities agreed to make a commitment to the owners and representatives of the relics at risk of collapse in the old quarter. Accordingly, the owners of the relics commit not to live and gather assets in the locations of degraded houses at risk of collapse, and will proactively move assets and people to a safe place before the storm occurs.

For relics located outside the heritage site, the unit coordinates with the People's Committees of Hoi An Dong and Hoi An Tay wards and Tan Hiep commune to issue a document requesting relic management teams, owners or representatives of relic owners to proactively reinforce and protect artifacts, assets, and trim trees at the relics, etc. when storms and floods occur.

According to Mr. Pham Phu Ngoc, Deputy Director of Hoi An Center, proactively supporting and protecting relics when storms and floods occur is to minimize the damage caused by natural disasters, ensuring the safety of relics as well as people and property inside the relics. The list of relics in the World Cultural Heritage Site of Hoi An Ancient Town that are degraded and need to be supported and further supported is conducted by the unit every year before the rainy and stormy season to proactively develop plans to support, protect, and minimize damage to relics, ensuring the safety of people.

Proposal to support 100% of the repair costs - photo 2 — Support for an ancient house relic against storms and floods

Proposing conservation and restoration options

Through surveys, most of the seriously degraded relics still do not have clear legal documents on ownership and usage rights. The cost of restoration is very large, many owners of relics in alleys and lanes do not have the conditions to do business, leading to many difficulties in investing and restoring with personal capital, even impossible.

To preserve the originality of the relics, maintain the integrity of the heritage site, and at the same time ensure the safety of residents and tourists in the ancient town, Hoi An Center proposed that the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Da Nang recommend the City People's Committee to consider the policy of investing in urgent restoration of relics and houses at risk of collapse in the World Cultural Heritage Site of Hoi An Ancient Town. The proposed mechanism is to support 100% of the restoration costs for relics of special value.

In addition, it is recommended that the City People's Committee issue a mechanism to support funding for restoration and embellishment, with support levels ranging from 40% - 100% for relics inside and outside the old quarter of the ancient town; establish a Fund to preserve the World Cultural Heritage of Hoi An ancient town to promptly rescue and provide emergency support for relics at risk.

Recommend the City People's Committee to agree on the policy of allowing Hoi An Center to establish an emergency restoration project for relics at risk of collapse in the heritage site; contract with consulting units and research institutes to comprehensively assess the impact of climate change, especially the recent severe flooding, in order to develop solutions for prevention, response and sustainable conservation for the heritage site. The early implementation of the above measures is necessary to protect the integrity of Hoi An heritage from the increasingly obvious impacts of extreme weather and climate change.

Through a field inspection of the actual status of relics in Hoi An ancient town, Mr. Pham Duc An, Chairman of Da Nang City People's Committee, affirmed the importance of relics in the cultural and spiritual life of the people, especially the role of relics in tourism development.

The Chairman of the City People's Committee requested the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Da Nang to preside over and coordinate with relevant departments, branches and localities to continue reviewing, making statistics and assessing the current status and functions of each relic. On that basis, propose feasible conservation and restoration plans that are suitable to actual conditions. The goal is to preserve and promote the cultural and historical values of the relics, while effectively exploiting the tourism potential, contributing to promoting the socio-economic development of the city.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/kien-nghi-ho-tro-100-kinh-phi-tu-bo-180821.html