PM asks for report on US$64mil. Ho Chi Minh statue & square project Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the authorities of Son La Province to report on the VND1.4 trillion ($64 million) project to build a monument of President Ho Chi Minh and Son La people.    Illustrative image. Local media had reported that a tall statue depicting the late President Ho Chi Minh and the ethnic group in the northwestern mountains would be built in Son La City in October. The statue is expected to be 5m to 8m tall, and will be installed in Tay Bac Square, located in Chieng Coi Ward, and To Hieu Ward of the city. The project also includes the construction of a war memorial for Vietnamese soldiers who died for the country's reunification, a park of trees, a museum featuring the history and culture of the province, and Tay Bac Square where 20,000 people can congregate. The estimated area required for the project is 10ha to 15 ha. The $64 million project, to be funded by the state budget, would be ready by 2019. The construction of the project would start on October 11 this year, to coincide with the 120th anniversary of the foundation of the province. The project aims to express the gratitude that the country's northwestern ethnic groups in general and the ethnic groups of Son La Province have towards the beloved President. It also aims to improve the infrastructure of the province. Immediately after the information was released, controversy swirled around the project. Public opinion and experts said that Son La was a poor province and the local authorities should not invest $64 million in a monument. That amount of money should be used to build public works that serve the people such as roads, hospitals or schools. Director of the Department of Planning and Investment of Son La Province, Mr. Le Hong Minh, explained that VND1,400 billion will be spent on seven main categories including: VND250 billion (over $9 million) for Ho Chi Minh statue, VND20 billion for the square, VND48 billion for a temple worshipping President Ho Chi Minh, VND30 billion for the Monument for War Martyrs and VND260 billion for land compensation and site clearance. Minh stressed that the project has not been approved yet. Mr. Phan Dinh Tan, spokesman of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. said that this project should be reconsidered because of the cost and recent territorial rains and floods have caused heavy losses for many northern provinces. Tan said if Son La builds the monument to “show the people’s affection for President Ho Chi Minh," as the local officials said, VND1.4 trillion "is not enough". On August 5, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the People's Committee of Son La province to submit a report on the project before August 15. The province was asked to send a report on building the statue to the Secretariat of the Central Committee Communist Party of Vietnam for verification. It was told it would only be allowed to start construction if the Secretariat gave the green light, the PM said. In a related move, the PM said in a legal document issued on Tuesday that localities should consider local needs and socio-economic development before building public squares. The document was written in response to questions raised by National Assembly Deputy Le Viet Truong from the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of An Giang at the ninth session of the 13th National Assembly, which ended in late June. Truong had asked about localities that built squares that cost billions of dong, despite the State's limited budget and increasing public debt. In 2014, HCM City has started work on what it claims is the biggest square in Vietnam. It covers more than 20ha and will eventually costs a total of about VND2 trillion ($91.6 million). Work is expected to be finished within three years. A recent survey by the Vietnam Association of Architects recorded 35 regional squares throughout the country. PM Dung said that under the Law on the State Budget, squares should be built using local budgets and other legal capital sources. Building squares in urban areas created more public space, and helped cities catch up with current trends in other modern urban parts of Viet Nam. PM Dung also said that the chairmen of People's Committees had to approve squares before they were built. T. Van, VNN