Chairman of the People’s Committee in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho Le Hung Dung yesterday said that they had halted a project to demolish and rebuild 98 years old high school Chau Van Liem to listen to opinions from local and international experts.
The decision was made after the public raised objection over the project.
According to Mr. Dung, Chau Van Liem High School was built in 1917 under the French domination period and put into operation 1921.
In 1987, the French side sent an announcement saying the school out of date.
For the last ten years, the city Department of Education and Training has invited local experts to estimate the school status and they have concluded that it has been badly downgraded and should be rebuilt.
Can Tho has also collected opinions from teachers, students and their parents before making the decision to rebuild the school, which architecture and storey number will be kept unchanged.
It was expected to complete by 2017 to mark the 100 establishment anniversary of the school. The city has started selling bid invitation documents for the project.
However, the public have raised concerns over the project recently. Many proposed to restore the school instead of destroying it.
Local authorities have been anxious about the school’s safety as it has been outdated and badly downgraded, Mr. Dung said.
The city People’s Committee has put forwarded three measures. Of them is to halt the project and invite central agencies to assess and estimate the school quality. They city will have them introduce a suitable company to restore the school if it is possible.
The second measure is to rebuild downgraded parts and the third is to demolish and rebuilt it with same architecture.
The safety of students and teachers should be top priority, he added. Chau Van Liem School still operates as normal while waiting for experts’ opinions before any final decision can be made.
