Thousands of homes to be removed from old Hue

Authorities in the central Vietnamese town of Hue have launched the second phase of a project to remove households that have been living for decades inside the Hue Imperial Citadel, a national relic site and historic monument, said Nguyen Anh Tuan, director of the Hue Land Fund Development Center.

More than 3,270 families will have to move out of the area and will be resettled at the total cost of VND849 billion ($36,000), authorities reported.

The Imperial City of Hue is a walled fortress and palace that acted as the royal capital city of the Nguyen Dynasty for 140 years from 1805 until 1945.

The place was made UNESCO Site in 1993, and the historic structures were restored and preserved.

Over time, local people have illegally built makeshift houses inside the citadel’s walls and because they are not allowed to upgrade their houses due to preservation regulations, and they’re too poor to move elsewhere, thousands of families there have created slums inside the World Heritage Site.

Between 2019 and this year, Hue authorities carried out the first phase of the relocation project and so far, almost 2,000 families have been moved out.