Built in 1976 in Anh Son Commune, Nghe An Province, the 6.8-hectare cemetery is the final resting place of 11,180 Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and civilian experts who died in Laos.
It receives more than 2,000 groups and nearly 90,000 visitors each year for remembrance ceremonies, family visits and searches for information about the war dead.
Nghe An authorities said parts of the cemetery had deteriorated after nearly five decades of use, while its capacity was no longer sufficient to accommodate remains recovered and repatriated from Laos each year.
The expansion project will add 1.06 hectares to the cemetery, creating space for about 2,700 additional graves at a cost of more than VND 163 billion from the provincial budget. A separate VND 49 billion project will upgrade existing facilities.
Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) on August 7 donated VND 20 billion (USD 760,000) towards the renovation project. Chairman Nguyen Cao Cuong said the funding would help preserve and upgrade the cemetery.
Accoridng to Vo Trong Hai, chairman of the Nghe An People's Committee, the province had continued to prioritise funding for war cemeteries and memorial sites despite budget constraints. He said ACV's contribution would help speed up the renovation project and ensure it was completed on schedule.
Nearly 7,000 of the graves at the cemetery remain unidentified. The expansion and renovation projects are scheduled for completion by July 2027.
