QUANG NAM  (VNS) — Authorities in the central province of Quang Nam have invested VND4.5 billion (US$214,000) to restore nearly 1km of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the main route for providing support from the north to the south during the American War.

The trail section runs through Ta Bhing Commune, Nam Giang District, parallel to the modern Ho Chi Minh Highway. It will be restored to a 5.5m-wide road with a full drainage system. Various facilities for soldiers along the road will be rebuilt as they were in the past, including resting houses and special cookers that do not produce smoke, so soldiers could use them inside tunnels to avoid being discovered by the enemy.

Vehicles and weapons used during the war and photos of the legendary trail will also be exhibited. The restoration will be completed and open to the public by President Ho Chi Minh's birthday, May 19.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail (known in Vietnam as the Truong Son Trail) was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (North Viet Nam) to the Republic of Viet Nam (South Viet Nam) through the neighboring kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia between 1959-75. — VNS