The road from Vinh city to Muong Xen town - the center of Ky Son district is 230 km. From Muong Xen to My Ly commune, you have to go about 60 km more on winding and steep roads. After nearly 2 hours of walking and pushing the motorbike, counting 4 slopes, we arrived at Pha Chieng village, My Ly border commune when it was just getting dark. As soon as he heard the sound of the motorbike, Mr. Gia Ba Cu - Head of Pha Chieng village hurriedly ran out to welcome the "group" including reporters, commune officials and My Ly Border Guard Station.
Pha Chieng was now immersed in the quiet night, occasionally there were flashlights flickering like fireflies. Unlike the villages near the district center, where the community house was often crowded with people whenever visitors came, Pha Chieng had no electricity, and the village community house was quiet.
Village chief Gia Ba Cu shared: “The villagers are extremely miserable without grid electricity. There are no conditions for economic development, so most of the young people in the village leave their hometown to work, even those who are married. When Tet comes, they save a little money and want to buy a TV, a fan... but there is no electricity, so they give up.” Pha Chieng village has 53 households, only a few of which can buy mini generators powered by water from streams, or small solar lamps. The rest use oil lamps or burn firewood for light.
By the end of June 2023, My Ly commune still had 8/12 villages without electricity. Not only was there no electricity, but the roads were also very difficult, Pha Chieng seemed isolated from the outside world. The day village chief Gia Ba Cu and his wife Cu Y Ai moved in together in 2008, 15 years had passed, and they had never once known about the electricity grid. Of course, the house had no TV, refrigerator, rice cooker, fan... The most "civilized" equipment was a solar flashlight and a kerosene can used for lighting at night. The most disadvantaged were the children, studying in the dim light of a kerosene lamp...
Opposite the house of the village chief Gia Ba Cu is the house of 4 brothers and sisters whose parents have been working far away for many years. After 8 pm, the two brothers Gia Ba Vua and Gia Y Tong groped to pick vegetables in the dim light of the rechargeable flashlight hanging above their heads. When asked, Y Tong mumbled that the family had 4 brothers and sisters. Y Tong was the youngest, studying in 7th grade. During the summer, the 2 older brothers still stayed at Muong Xen town to study, only the 2 brothers Y Tong stayed at home. During the day they went to work in the fields, and at night they came home to cook. Their parents had been working far away for many years, the children at home did not have money to buy solar flashlights or generators that ran on stream electricity. The flashlights were also charged by the neighbors' mini electricity. On days when the lights ran out of electricity, they relied on the firelight from the stove. At night they could not study, so they tried to study in class hoping to accumulate knowledge that would be beneficial for the future. At the house of the village chief Gia Ba Cu, with a flickering lamp hanging above their heads, the two children Gia Y Dua and Gia Ba Hao were engrossed in doing their homework, reading aloud... Every night, the children of Pha Chieng village still diligently studied in such poverty.
In My Ly commune, currently 8/12 villages do not have electricity, so kindergartens and primary schools are supported to buy solar flashlights for teaching. Even My Ly Border Guard Station still has to call for support and invest in solar batteries to serve the work. For example, the checkpoint team stationed in Nhot Lot village, 1 day's forest road from the center of My Ly commune, bordering Pung Vai village, Pha Danh village cluster, Muong Quan district, Hua Phan province (Laos), because there is no grid electricity and it is far from the center, every 2 weeks, the team has to change people and supply food. "Since 2021, thanks to being equipped with a solar battery system to run a refrigerator to preserve food, the time to change guards and supply food of the checkpoint team has been extended to 1 month", said Major Phan Duc Tam - Deputy Political Commissar of My Ly Border Guard Station.
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Cam - Nghe An Provincial Border Guard Command added that Nghe An Border Guard has 38 working groups and control stations, of which only 23 groups stationed in the locality have access to grid electricity. 11 working groups use solar panels, 3 groups share generators with telecommunications and hydropower units...
My Ly is a bit remote. But located close to the center of Ky Son district, Ta Ca commune still has 3 villages without national grid electricity, including: Sa Vang, Na Nhu, Nhan Ly. Every day, more than 200 households in this area have to struggle to find alternative power sources. Most of the people are poor, near-poor households, with unstable economies.
Mrs. Lu Me Phuon in Na Nhu village said: “Without grid electricity, the children in the house had to install mini turbines powered by water from streams and creeks to have electricity for lighting, but it was very weak, only enough to use a few light bulbs and charge a phone…”.
For decades, Mr. Khun Van Xuan’s family in Sa Vang village has been accustomed to using kerosene lamps for lighting, because the mini-electricity is unstable. The house has a TV, but it is only for display “for beauty”.
According to the Ta Ca commune government, on the 1km of Nam Mo river passing through the commune, there are 3 hydropower projects that have come into operation, including: Nam Can 2 Hydropower Plant, Nam Mo Hydropower Plant and Ban Canh Hydropower Plant. These hydropower plants have been in operation for decades, but by July 2023, 3/6 villages in Ta Ca commune still have not used the national grid.
Sa Vang village chief Hoa Van Quyet said: “Our people are called “hydropower people” because they live right next to the hydropower plant. The houses of Sa Vang and Nhan Ly villagers are scattered along the Nam Mo River, from a few hundred meters to less than 1 km from the hydropower plants, but until now they still do not have electricity.” Without “civilized light”, along with the harsh weather and difficulties in production, more than 200 households of these 3 villages are mostly poor, near-poor, and have unstable economies. Sa Vang village has 82 households, of which 4 are near-poor, the rest are poor. Na Nhu village has 72 households, of which 4 are near-poor, the rest have been poor for decades.
Among more than 20 hydroelectric plants in Nghe An, Ky Son district has the most hydroelectric projects with 8 plants. However, Ky Son district is also the locality with the most villages without electricity in the province (69/119 villages). In the northwest of the province, along National Highway 48, there are also many villages living right next to hydroelectric plants but without electricity. Thai Co Muong Dan village, now Long Thang village, Hanh Dich commune, Que Phong district has nearly 200 households and is one of the two villages in Hanh Dich commune without electricity. However, Long Thang village has 6 families that have invested and are developing homestay tourism services, having to use self-equipped generators.
Ms. Lo Thi Tien - owner of Ngo Thang homestay said, 6 homestays in Long Thang village operate in a joint way. During the annual tourist season, very few guests stay overnight, because the village has no electricity grid, no air conditioning, so guests mostly just come to bathe in the waterfall, enjoy the cuisine and then go home. Homestay owners invest in buying generators, but the machines run very loudly and create dust. Moreover, buying a high-capacity machine that can run air conditioning, the income is not enough to cover the expenses.
It is worth mentioning that the villages in Hanh Dich commune are located upstream of Hieu river, on Nam Viec stream, right next to the river there are 2 hydroelectric plants Sao Va and Ban Coc which have been operating since 2010. However, up to now, Hanh Dich commune still has 2 villages without electricity. They want to develop the economy, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty but face many difficulties, largely due to lack of electricity.
When building the hydroelectric project, people were willing to give up land and relocate to serve the large project, but ironically, they had to endure the situation of "lighting oil lamps" right at the foot of the hydroelectric plant.
Tri Le commune, Que Phong district has a natural area of 20,290.18 hectares, 16 villages, including 2,145 households with 10,974 people. In which, there are 4 ethnic groups living together, including Thai, Mong, Kho Mu, Kinh. In particular, Tri Le commune is basically Mong ethnic people living close to the border with many residential clusters that have not benefited from using the national grid. Although Tri Le commune is located in the "coverage" area of Song Quang Hydropower project.
Mr. Vi Van Cuong - Chairman of Tri Le Commune People's Committee said that the climate, rugged terrain, lack of means to support life, and no national grid have caused many difficulties for Tri Le commune residents. Currently, Tri Le commune still has 6 residential groups with 258 households without national grid electricity, especially residential groups of Mong ethnic minority villages. For decades, whenever there has been a meeting with voters of People's Council and National Assembly delegates in the commune or in the district, representatives of local authorities as well as Tri Le commune residents have continuously petitioned and proposed that all levels and sectors pay attention to investing so that people can use the national grid electricity.
“In the near future, when the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee organize a Dialogue Conference between provincial leaders and village and hamlet officials, we will continue to request provincial leaders to pay attention to directing support and investment in bringing national grid electricity to 6 residential groups of 6 villages in Tri Le commune that currently do not have national grid electricity. Specifically, the Kem Ai residential group in Kem Don village, Pieng Luong residential group in Pa Khom village, Na Can residential group in Cha Lenh village, Na Ca residential group in Lam Hop village, Pieng Lom residential group in Cam village and D1 residential group in Na Nieng village. In addition, Tri Le commune also has 3 villages that do not have national grid electricity, namely Muong Long, Xa Xai, Nam Tot, which are also eager to soon use the source of "civilized light" - Mr. Vi Van Cuong confided.
In Ky Son district, with 69 villages without national grid electricity, for decades, through voter contacts, People's Council meetings at all levels, voters in all villages of this border district have expressed opinions and recommendations on the situation of people not being able to use grid electricity even though they live in the area with the most hydropower plants in the province. Most recently, sent to the 18th session of Nghe An Provincial People's Council, taking place from July 5-7, 2023, voters of Keng Du and Muong Ai communes, Ky Son district continued to reflect "The national grid electricity project has been under construction for a long time, now it has been temporarily stopped. I request the Provincial People's Committee, all levels and sectors to continue to inspect and urge contractors to construct so that people can soon use the national grid electricity"...
