Plan may save 13 craft villages in Ho Chi Minh City

The department’s deputy director, Le Hong Hoanh, said the plan was submitted recently to the city’s People’s Committee for consideration.

The city has 19 craft villages of which these 13 are the oldest and have the largest number of workers, she said.

They include the Thai My knitting village and Phu Hoa Dong girdle cake village in Cu Chi district; Binh Loi flower and ornamental plant village and Le Minh Xuan incense making village in Binh Chanh district; Quy Nhon salt village in Can Gio district; Xuan Thoi traditional mat weaving village in Hoc Mon district and the ornamental flower village in Go Vap district.

Work to keep the 13 villages going would be done between 2013 and 2015, Hoanh said. It includes restoring one village whose craft is in danger of disappearing and preserving six others.

After 2015, promotional activities would be undertaken and more outlets would be found forthe villages’ products to make them sustainable.

While agreeing with the need to preserve and develop craft villages, Vice Chairman of the city People’s Committee Le Minh Tri, however, said 13 were too many and would spread the resources too thin.

He also wanted the department to spell out which villages would be developed for economic purposed and which for cultural purposes.

“This classification will enable the city government to provide proper support policies to ensure effectiveness in each case,” he said.

The plan should also focus on developing new craft villages, he said, pointing out that this would enable official agencies to manage, protect the environment, and mobilise all resources.

Studying the demand for training at traditional craft villages is key to having an effective training programme to ensure supply of human sources for preservation and development. The 19 crafts villages in the city provide employment for some 4,497 households with 13,400 members.