Life of people in places without national grid

Pha Chieng is a border village in My Ly commune, Ky Son district. It is only about 15 km from the commune center, but due to the steep and dangerous road, it takes nearly 2 hours to get to Pha Chieng village. This is home to 53 Mong households. For decades, this village has not had national grid electricity.

The living conditions of the people here are extremely difficult. All activities at night depend entirely on kerosene lamps or flashlights hanging above their heads. Of the 53 households, only 3 can afford to buy solar-powered lamps.

However, with the terrain of the village "as high as the clouds", covered in fog all year round, and the number of sunny days is limited, the battery capacity of this type of lamp is also limited. Therefore, the solar lamp only lights up for a few hours, people have to do everything at night before the light goes out.

While My Ly commune is more than 50km away from Muong Xen town, right in Ta Ca commune, located in the center of Ky Son district, there are still 3 villages without national grid electricity including: Sa Vang, Na Nhu, Nhan Ly. Therefore, more than 200 households here have to struggle to find alternative power sources. Most of the people are poor, near-poor households, with unstable economies. One of the reasons is that there is no grid electricity.

Mrs. Lu Met Phuon, Na Nhu village, Ta Ca commune said: "I am over 60 years old this year but have never used grid electricity. My children and grandchildren in the house had to install a turbine to use water from the stream to get electricity for lighting. The electricity is very weak, just enough to light a few light bulbs and charge a phone...".

One of the biggest concerns of the Khmu people here is that there are 3 hydroelectric plants operating in the area, but up to now, people living next to the power plants do not have electricity to use.

According to statistics from Ky Son Electricity, up to now, the whole district has provided electricity to 124/193 villages, while 69 villages have no electricity grid. These are mainly border villages, located in remote locations with difficult roads.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Hong - Director of Ky Son Electricity said: Covering the entire power grid is always the top priority of the unit, although in reality, bringing electricity to the villages is facing many difficulties. Ky Son has steep and rugged terrain, the new traffic route only reaches the commune center, going to the villages is still arduous, not to mention the frequent rainy and flood weather. In particular, the most common difficulty today is that there are villages where the power line has to go through protective forests, but it is impossible to clear or cut down trees to be able to erect electric poles or pull wires through these forests. This has significantly affected the progress of bringing electricity to the villages. However, the unit will also make efforts to cover the entire power grid in these 69 villages according to the roadmap for the period 2020 - 2025.