HCMC – HCMC has decided to suspend the symphony, opera and ballet theater project worth thousands of billions of Vietnamese dong in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area to focus resources on social welfare and the post-pandemic economic recovery.
After reviewing all the projects approved in principle from 2015 onward, the municipal Department of Planning and Investment found 678 projects were delayed, thereby suspending two of them–the opera house in Thu Thiem and a road linking the Cat Lai port and Beltway No. 2, according to a report sent by the department to the HCMC People’s Council.
The city’s industrial and civil construction investment projects management board, the investor of the big-ticket theater project, said it was necessary to build a large-scale opera house to meet the rising demand for entertainment and the needs of art lovers.
However, due to the severe impact of the Covid pandemic on residents’ daily life and firms’ business and production activities, the city will prioritize social welfare and stimulate the recovery and development of industries, said the board.
The Thu Thiem opera house project was set to require over VND1.5 trillion in investment, get off the ground in 2018 and be completed in 2022. However, the investor proposed revising the total cost to VND1.98 trillion and extending the completion time of the project to 2024.
The 1,700-seat theater will feature a big auditorium seating 1,200 people and a smaller concert hall accommodating 500 people, the local media reported.
