Therefore, the province has directed the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and relevant agencies and units to focus on implementing investment preparation work, completing sequences and procedures in accordance with regulations to soon commence construction.

The Project on Preservation and Embellishment of the Center of the Điện Biên Phủ Stronghold Group, combined with renovating the greenery system at relic sites, has a total investment of over VND 250 billion. The project has a research scope of about 10ha, including items: Investing in supplementary embellishment of the Command Bunker area of General De Castries; preserving, embellishing, and restoring artillery positions and artillery bunkers; barracks, field hospitals, military medical bunkers; traffic systems, trench systems, earthen blockhouses and resistance nests, barbed wire fence systems, various types of cargo parachutes, and systems of materials and equipment to create the landscape surrounding the Command Bunker area of General De Castries - the French army’s Command Center at Điện Biên Phủ. Auxiliary items; preservation and restoration of relic items currently displayed outdoors (artillery guns, tanks, aircraft wreckage); organizing displays, introducing supplementary relics, and a number of other related investment contents.

The project aims to recreate the central area of the French army’s stronghold group at Điện Biên Phủ, promote values, preserve more fully and completely the system of historical relics, and vividly visually recreate the Điện Biên Phủ battlefield; renovating the greenery system to create landscapes meeting the sightseeing needs of the people and tourists. At the same time, creating conditions to exploit and promote potentials and strengths in tourism, especially historical tourism, to step by step make tourism a spearhead economic sector of the province, contributing to economic, cultural, and social development and improving people’s lives.

Trần Hải Hà, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (DoCST), shared: This is a particularly important project; therefore, promoting the responsibility of the investor of component projects assigned by the provincial People’s Committee, the DoCST has urgently implemented investment preparation work; preparing and submitting to competent authorities for appraisal and approval of projects. The Department advised on establishing the Project Scientific Council, gathering leading experts in the fields of history, architecture, fine arts, and construction to consult and give opinions on related contents during the project implementation process; advising on selecting accurate and suitable restoration design options based on documents, historical materials, scientific basis, and witnesses.

By the end of February 2025, the province decided to approve the results of the recruitment for research and construction of restoration sketches for the Project “Preservation and Embellishment of the Center of the Điện Biên Phủ Stronghold Group” by the joint venture of Cultural Heritage Conservation One Member Limited Liability Company and Vietnam Urban Architecture Joint Stock Company. At the end of last September, the Project Scientific Council met to evaluate, comment, and give feedback on the Project Feasibility Study Report dossier. There were many detailed and profound contributions for each issue and item of the project; the structure of the entire Center of the Điện Biên Phủ Stronghold Group, the solidity, high defensive capability, and tactics of the stronghold group to highlight the historical victory of our army and people, and the exploitation of destination values later on.

As the unit with the winning plan for building project restoration sketches, recently the Cultural Heritage Conservation One Member Limited Liability Company has completed sketching the military equipment part (cars, tanks, aircraft, artillery...); sketching the interior and exterior of functional rooms in the central area of the stronghold group; sketching artistic gates and fences... Currently, the unit is actively deploying sketches of a number of other equipment such as: GMC transport trucks, Bearcat F8F aircraft... This is a complex project with a very large workload, difficult to implement, so from preparation and research to implementation methods, everything is carried out seriously, methodically, with scientific basis and persuasiveness.

Focusing on implementing the project, the DoCST is urging the consulting unit to urgently complete the Feasibility Study Report dossier according to the feedback of Project Scientific Council members to submit to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for appraisal in the first quarter of 2026. After receiving appraisal opinions, the DoCST will submit to the provincial People’s Committee for project approval in the second quarter of 2026.