Abandoned admin buildings host animal husbandry in central Vietnam

Tay Tra was a mountainous district with over 20,000 people residents, most of them of Cor ethnicity. The district was merged into Tra Bong District in April 2020. When this happened, all of Tay Tra administration’s properties were handed over to Tra Bong authorities. This included dozens of administrative buildings with a total area of 589,000 m2, worth around VND516 billion ($22.2 million), along with numerous cars, machines and equipment worth around VND72 billion.

However, only a few of the buildings are usable, most of the others already dilapidated and abandoned. Among them, the premises of the red roofed building, which used to be the Tay Tra District Court, has become a garden to plant bananas and raise chickens. The building next to it, formerly the district's prosecutor's office, is being used to raise cows.

Mats used to cover vegetables from direct sunlight are hung on the fence at the old Tay Tra People's Court building.

Pipes used to water bananas and papaya trees lie in the front yard of the erstwhile People's Court.

Former office rooms of the court have become coops to incubate eggs.

Over the past year, the former district prosecutors' office has become a cow farm. Late last month, the cows were moved outside the building at the request of the Tra Bong People's Committee.

About 200 m away is another abandoned building that used to be the Tay Tra education center.

Many classrooms in the building are damaged and covered in dust.

About 500 m away from the school, an old commune office is now unused as people have moved to buildings in Tay Tra District instead.

Locals often enter similarly abandoned buildings for parties, or for a place to spend the night.

People place mats and blankets on the corridors of the building to sleep.

"Besides sleeping, some people also collect scrap metal from the building to sell and buy alcohol," said Ho Thi Nga, a resident.

Weeds grow in an abandoned corridor.

Trash inside abandoned rooms.

Dang Minh Thao, secretary of the Tra Bong Party Committee, said: "As much as we tried , we could not use all the buildings," adding that the current uses of the buildings were just a way to prevent them from being damaged further.

Thao said it was difficult to auction these buildings as they are around 100 km away from Quang Ngai's center, and are hard to manage. Some buildings were converted into schools, but students could not travel long distances to get there.