A slew of culture and sports venues across Vietnam have been left desolate for years due to several reasons or sold at almost half the construction costs to private companies.

Most of the places, which cost some hundred million dong or up to VND2 trillion (US$94 million), have been deserted since their inauguration a few years back.

Some are now leased to individuals or have even been sold off to private companies.

Derelict traditional craft village, tourism complex

Lieng Nung Traditional Craft Village in Gia Nghia District in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong is among such facilities.

The five-hectare village, whose construction cost VND6.5 billion ($306,000), was intended to preserve the Ma ethnic minority’s time-honored brocade weaving craft and provide local residents with stable jobs.

Inaugurated in 2008, it was also meant to serve as a cultural tourist attraction.

However, many of the village’s components such as its exhibition house, outdoor stage, and park have long been in dilapidated conditions despite the local government’s bid to repair it several times at great expense. 

Local brocade weavers told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the main reason for the village’s poor performance and desertion is a lack of outlets for their products.

According to Nguyen Tien Tung, a local official, only some 10 artisans in Dak Nia Commune – where the village is located – still practice their brocade weaving regularly, but most of them prefer doing the job at home to take care of their families at the same time.

The Lieng Nung Ecological, Cultural Tourism Complex next to the village, which taps into the Lieng Nung Waterfall, has also drawn few tourists in recent times.

Ngo Van Linh, chair of the Gia Nghia District People’s Committee, also put the village’s modest performance down to the absence of coordination between the village and the tourism complex.

He added that his committee is planning to improve transport to the village and complex as well as the facilities inside and nearby, and call for further investment.

Trinh Nu Waterfall Ecological Tourism Complex in the province’s Cu Jut District has also suffered a similar fate.

The cascading waterfall on the Serepok River – one of the Central Highlands region’s largest – is widely known as the province’s most stunning fall.

The gateway to the complex is always kept shut, with a piece of paper stuck in its security office, cautioning tourists not to enter to “avoid danger.”

The complex’s constituent components, including a restaurant, a guest welcoming hall, rooms, and cottages – all modeled after the E De ethnic minority’s hallmark houses – have sustained serious damage. Some have even collapsed.      

The paths leading to the waterfall, parking lots, and cuisine areas have seen extensive devastation.

According to a district culture official, the complex was built by Dak Lak Province at a cost of some ten billion dong. (VND1 billion ~ $47,000)

Since part of the province was separated into the current Dak Nong Province in 2004, the Trinh Nu tourism complex has been run by Cu Jut District.

Dak Nong Province also spent several more billion dong building an asphalt road and a lighting system along the Serepok River.

However, Dak Nong Commercial, Tourism Co., which was assigned by the local government to manage the complex, has suffered massive losses since 2011, the official added.

The Trinh Nu waterfall complex was later transferred to another company.

Dak Nong Commercial, Tourism Co. has yet to declare bankruptcy, keeping the new company from taking over the complex.

The provincial government has demanded that all these tasks be completed by December 2014.

Abandoned communal ethnic houses 

Some hundreds of communal ethnic houses throughout the Central Highlands and a few other adjacent provinces have sat deserted for years.

The houses, which cost some VND100-150 million (up to $7,000) each, were intended as places where local ethnic minority communities gather for meetings and recreational activities.

Nevertheless, most are reluctant to go there, except for attending one or two obligatory meetings a month, during which they mostly stand outside, according to Y Duc Eban, head of a village in Dak Lak Province. “The houses are not only small and stuffy but they are also built in the directions which go against the will of the God worshipped by the Ede ethnic community,” the elder explained.

Some have not been in use for a single occasion since the opening ceremony.

Others now provide shelter and shade for cow herders and their cattle, which often drop their feces all around.

Y Duc Eban added that investors did not consult local representatives prior to the construction of the houses, thus they mostly feature the structures which stray away from the Ede community’s customs and social hierarchy.

A few houses even boast other ethnic minorities’ typical structures, which make them even alien to the community’s culture and lifestyle, he noted.

According to Dak Nong Province’s Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the province is home to 136 communal houses, among which nine have ceased operations and 88 others are not put to good use at the moment.

Neighboring Dak Lak Province also boasts 570 communal houses, with a mere 30 percent operating relatively well, a provincial official said.

“The local administration has imposed their will unduly without consulting locals, resulting in a colossal waste of resources. In some provinces, the local minorities were allowed to build their own traditional houses, which have become indispensable to their communal activities,” noted Linh Nga Nie Kdam, the deputy president of Dam San Dak Lak College and a revered authority on the Central Highlands culture.

Performing center sold at almost half the cost

The Multipurpose Performing Center in the central city of Da Nang was built in 2009 at a cost of almost VND90 billion ($4.2 million).

The center has a 4,000-seat stadium, a multipurpose stage, and recreation areas.

However, shortly after its launch in January 2009, the complex, built on a 47,000m² land plot in Hai Chau District, has fallen far short of expectations and into oblivion since.

Due to defective designs, the structure is drafty, which considerably undermines its acoustic quality and drives away show organizers, an official from the Da Nang Culture Center said.

The stadium and stage also suffer serious roof leaking and flooding even during light rains.

Due to a limited budget, the city government failed to provide funding for repairs to the complex in 2011.

According to Tuoi Tre investigations, considering the complex’s dilapidation and poor performance, in late September this year, the Da Nang People’s Committee decided to sell the complex to a Vietnamese company, Cong Vien Chau A (Asian Park) Co.

The firm owned by Sun Group bought it for VND50 million ($2.3 million), almost half the construction expenditure, and will settle the amount in the next 10 years.

On October 9, the city’s Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism handed over the complex to the company.

Poorly-performing $138.5 million museum

The Ha Noi Museum has failed to live up to expectations in the last four years despite over VND2.9 trillion ($138.5 million) channeled into its upgrade in 2010, according to a survey by the local People’s Council.

Built in 1982, the museum was expected to be among the country’s most hi-end museums when it was upgraded with such a massive amount of money. 

The survey found that the indoor exhibition areas, constructed at VND789 billion ($37 million), lack valuable artifacts and diversity while the outdoor spaces remain untapped.

The museum has since attracted a limited number of visitors and not many people are even aware of its presence.

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