Investors reticent to support culture

Poor State management and overlapping duties are blamed for decreasing investment in cultural, sports and tourism activities in the southern region. Photo shows HCM City's Opera House on Dong Khoi Street. — VNS File Photo

HCM CITY — Investment in cultural, sports and tourism activities in the southern region has fallen short of expectations because of poor State management and overlapping duties, experts have said.

State policies and regulations needed to be adjusted and revised to be in line with socio-economic development, according to Ho Anh Tuan, deputy minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, speaking at a conference in HCM City on Friday.

Non-State companies in the cultural, sports and tourism sectors have not been sufficiently encouraged to invest in projects, and State budgets of agencies and departments were the primary sources of funds.

"HCM City failed to tap the potential resources of all economic sectors to invest in tourism due to a lack of a long-term development plan and poor coordination between State agencies and departments," said La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the HCM City's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Short-term planning, which spans only one year, had resulted in unprofessional results, Khanh said.

Le Duy Hanh, deputy head of the Viet Nam Stage Artists Association, said that although HCM City had been successful in calling for non-State investment in the theatre sector, with the establishment and effective operation of private theatres, such as Phu Nhuan Drama Theatre, Idecaf Drama Theatre and San Khau Nho (Small Stage) Drama Theatre, the theatre sector was still without a long-term development orientation.

Private stages offered a platform for young artists, stage managers, authors and managers, who play an important role in the development of the theatres' activities in the city, Hanh said.

"Management of public theatres, which are subsidised by the State budget, is not innovative," he added. The Government should restructure the country's stage system and allocate State budget funds to ensure the sustainable development of theatre activities, he said.

Nguyen Ngoc Minh, director of the Tien Giang Province's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that investment from private enterprises in tourism activities had increased significantly over the last few years, with most investors participating in the hospitality sector.

The number of hotels jumped to 113 units with 1,912 rooms in 2009, from 25 units with 385 rooms in 2000.

"The development of tourism helps create jobs for local workers, and promotes socio-economic development and infrastructure," Minh said.

Poor coordination between State agencies in implementing State policies had limited the amount of investment from enterprises in the culture, sports and tourism industry.

Minh said that incentive policies related to tax, credit and land were not sufficiently attractive to promote investment from all sectors. — VNS

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HCM City falls short on entertainment

Entertainment and recreational facilities for children in HCM City are unable to meet the increasing and diverse demands of children because they are hampered by funding and personnel shortages, officials say.

With the current situation, it was difficult to develop infrastructure and equipment for facilities catering to 1.7 million city children as well as 2.4 million teenagers, not to mention 600,000 disabled children, Nguyen Thanh Rum, director of the city's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said at seminar held by the city People's Council last week.

The shortage of qualified officials working in cultural and sports centres and children's houses led to ineffective operation of entertainment facilities, Rum said.

Fee collection at cultural centres and children's houses also hindered the participation of disadvantaged children, he said.

The 13,000sq.m Khanh Hoi Children's Entertainment Area in District 4, which attracts 1,500-2,000 children per day, was overloaded at weekend and holidays, said Nguyen Tien Dat, chairman of the district People's Committee.

"It is a free playground for children in the district, and its operation costs are mainly met through sales of food and beverages and parking fees," Dat said.

"The entertainment demand of children is very huge, especially for outdoor playgrounds, but the capacity of facilities is very limited," he added.

Tran Thi Dieu Thuy, deputy secretary of the city's Communist Youth Union, said most children's houses were struggling to improve their operations to attract more children with an average annual funding of 500 million VND (25,700 USD) from the State budget. Overheads at many houses accounted for as much of 70 percent of their expenses, she said.

Only 12 children's houses were operating effectively because of adequate financial support from the districts' budget, Thuy said.

Most of the children's houses did not have meeting halls or multi-purpose stadiums for cultural, art, sports and other outdoor activities.

Last year the children's houses in the city attracted just 600,000 children to participate in entertainment and recreational activities.

"The activities of cultural centres and children's houses were simple and backward compared with advanced entertainment forms designed for children's mental and physical development," said Dr. Nguyen Thi Hau, deputy head of the city's Institute for Development Studies.

Advanced equipment, tools and forms of entertainment activities should be made available to meet the diverse demands of children and ensure development of life-skills among them, Hau said.

Hau proposed that the city should encourage investment by individuals and enterprises to develop infrastructure and equipment for cultural, art, sports and entertainment facilities for children in the central districts so that more financial support from the State budget could be allocated to outlying districts.

Pham Phuong Thao, chairwoman of the city People's Council agreed with the participants, saying that entertainment and recreational areas for children not only failed to meet demand, but also operated inefficiently.

She blamed the situation on a shortage of land set aside for the development of entertainment areas for children, the lack of preferential policies to attract investors and poor management.

State budget funds would be allocated to develop an additional facility of the city's Children's House in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in District 2 and playgrounds for children in ten parks in the city as part of the city's short-term plan, she said.

The city would also provide funding to build facilities in two districts without children's houses, Tan Phu and Hoc Mon, she added./.

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