The project to restore and embellish Dien Khanh Ancient Citadel with a total investment of more than 225 billion VND is being accelerated by the investor to be completed in 2026 according to the approved plan.
However, the project is still facing difficulties due to problems in site clearance.
Dien Khanh Ancient Citadel is a national historical and cultural relic, located about 10km west of Nha Trang center.
The building was built in 1793, has existed for more than 230 years, and still retains its special historical, cultural and ancient military architecture values.
Although it has been invested in renovation and restoration through many stages, Dien Khanh Ancient Citadel has not yet been completed synchronously.
Many sections of the embankment road have not been connected continuously, moat households are silted up, lack roads under the inner embankment and there are still households living within the zoning area for relic protection.
At the end of 2023, Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee approved the feasibility study report for investment in the Dien Khanh Ancient Citadel relic restoration and embellishment project.
By December 2024, the Khanh Hoa Provincial Development Project Management Board (investor) officially implemented the project with a total budget of nearly 226 billion VND, using from the provincial budget and revenue left for investment of the Khanh Hoa Provincial Relic Conservation Center.
The main items of the project include: repairing and restoring the line to earth; restoring the moat wall; building a new water pumping station; building a railing along the concrete road on the embankment; paving the line with bricks to earth; renovating and sweeping the city gates; building a road along the protection boundary inside and the sub-parks.
After about a year of implementation, items such as moat walls, pumping stations, the soil wall section adjacent to the moat walls, building the Hau gate bridge and restoring and renovating the South, East, and West gate bridges are being constructed with a volume of more than 30%.
Notably, in November 2025, heavy rain and floods in Dien Khanh commune caused significant damage to the project.
Immediately after the water receded, the contractors conducted current status inspections, organized barriers, warned dangerous areas to ensure labor safety, and urgently repaired machinery and equipment to soon restore construction operations.
According to the investor's representative, to date, the construction items outside the road into land such as repairing and embellishing the moat; building a new pumping station; repairing concrete roads along the outer boundary; building the Hau gate bridge and renovating the South, East, and West gates have reached about 85% of the volume.
Specifically, the items of repairing and restoring the landline have not yet been able to be deployed simultaneously due to site clearance issues for households adjacent to the ancient citadel that have not been relocated, and the implementation volume has only reached about 35%.
The investor said that the project is still facing difficulties in site clearance.
At the same time, the unit has advised the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa province to submit to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for appraisal of additional items, as a basis for adjusting the project, supplementing site clearance funds, to ensure the project is completed on schedule as approved.
