'New wind' in Muong Choong

"Wherever the road is opened, land is donated"

Visiting Lau village, Chau Ly commune, the first impression is the airy concrete roads winding along the green rice fields stretching to the foot of the mountain, evoking a peaceful scene.

Acting as our "navigator", Ms. Mai Huong - an officer in charge of land administration and agriculture in Chau Ly commune said: Although it is a purely agricultural area with 74 households and 334 people, the main labor force is agricultural production, but Lau village is one of the leading villages in building new rural areas, especially the movement of donating land to expand rural roads...

Meeting the Secretary of the Lau Village Party Cell - Ms. Tran Thi Ly, who was inspecting the production situation in the fields, she happily said: The village is striving to reach the new rural finish line this year, currently achieving 10/13 criteria. In addition to taking care of economic development, with the advantage of having many construction teams, the people of the village actively contribute to repairing and beautifying the yard and fences of each family and alley. In the first 6 months of 2023, the village was granted 150 tons of cement, the Party Cell held a meeting to mobilize people to contribute nearly 160 million VND in cash, mobilizing 350 working days to build nearly 1.7 km of concrete roads within the village.

Recently, in the bustling atmosphere of “building” new rural areas in Chau Ly commune, the story of people donating land and trees to open roads evoked many emotions for the commune and village leaders and visitors coming here. The most precious thing is that people donated land without any calculation of gains and losses.

The Party Secretary of Lau village just led us to visit the village and said: "The three-way intersection leading to this village used to have a small, narrow curve, obstructing the view, making it difficult for vehicles to pass, especially cars. When the village had a policy to build a road, Mr. Truong Xuan Bao's family voluntarily dismantled the fence, donated land 3m wide and more than 20m long to widen the curve, and the road was also widened by 2m to facilitate easy vehicle movement."

Talking to us next to the newly rebuilt, whitewashed fence, Mr. Bao sincerely shared, "Every inch of land is truly precious, but to beautify the road and the neighborhood, my family does not feel sorry."

The movement of “wherever roads are opened, people donate land” also helps traffic works in Xet village, Chau Ly commune to be implemented quickly. Although the village still has many difficulties (up to 25% of households are poor), the process of mobilizing to build new rural areas always receives the consensus and support of the people.

“In early 2023, Xet villagers cleared the land and built the foundations for 3 roads, with a total length of nearly 2 km. For a village with a difficult economic life like Xet, this is a great effort of the people,” said Mr. Truong Van Kien, Secretary of the Xet village Party Cell.

When the superiors issued a policy, many households in Xet village voluntarily donated land and trees to build rural roads. Among them, the family of Nguyen Van Ngoc donated 40m of solid fence, 3 many-year-old flower-trees, 1 lake and more than 200 acacia trees worth hundreds of millions of VND. "My family supports the common work of the village, regardless of gains or losses, because we understand and want our homeland to always develop, and the lives of people like us to become more and more prosperous" - Mr. Ngoc shared simply and sincerely.

Chau Ly is a particularly disadvantaged commune in Quy Hop district, with a total natural area of ​​6,559 hectares, a population of 1,547 households, and 7,264 people of 3 ethnic groups Kinh, Thai, and Tho living in 11 villages. Previously, the transportation system had not been invested in synchronously, and the economy was underdeveloped.

The Resolution of the 22nd Party Congress of the commune, term 2020-2025, set the goal: Maximizing resources, gradually completing the synchronous infrastructure system; proposing, promoting, and attracting investment to open routes connecting Chau Ly to Tho Son (Anh Son), Thach Ngan (Con Cuong), Chau Ly to Tan Hop (Tan Ky), building the commune into a central point connecting the socio-economic development of the Southwest region of Nghe An.

Stopping by Choong Bung village, we were filled with joy as we heard stories of villagers donating land and moving their houses to make way for the road. That was the family of Mr. Vi Van Pho who volunteered to demolish their entire house to make way for the construction of a rigid bridge under the Chau Ly (Quy Hop) - Tan Hop (Tan Ky) road project.

According to the Secretary of the Choong Bung village Party Cell - Mr. Lo Van Hoang (the pioneer who donated 700m2 of production land to build the road), the whole village has 36 households donating rice fields and trees to serve the construction of the Chau Ly - Tan Hop road project; in which, Mr. Pho's family is the most affected, because they have a majestic 3-room stilt house which, according to the construction drawing, is located right at the center of the hard bridge abutment on the route.

Talking, Mr. Vi Van Pho said: “The house was bought from someone else in 2016 on an area of ​​452m2, with a value of 360 million VND for the eldest son's family to live separately. The house has been with the family for many years, now it is demolished, it is a pity! But thinking back, thinking again for the common good, I mobilized my wife and children to dismantle it to hand over the site to the construction unit. Currently, I am setting up a temporary camp for my son's family to live in"...

According to the planning of the inter-district traffic route from Choong Bung village, Chau Ly commune (Quy Hop) to Tan Hop commune (Tan Ky), the total investment is expected to be up to 70 billion VND, with a total length of 11.5 km, which is expected to help Chau Ly commune promote economic development, becoming the center of the Southwest region of the district.

Mr. Vi Van Quanh - Chairman of Chau Ly Commune People's Committee said: After receiving information about the implementation of the road construction, especially the project without compensation for site clearance, the commune directed the entire political system from the commune to the hamlet to propagate and disseminate information to the people. When the project was implemented, 126 households in Choong Bung, Tham, Xet, Bon villages... were affected by crops, trees, houses, gates, and solid fences. However, the spirit of the people was ready to support for the common good.

Talking about the determination to open roads, Mr. Cao Duy Thai - Secretary of Chau Ly Commune Party Committee said: Determining that transportation plays an extremely important role in the socio-economic development of the locality in the current period, as well as the development strategy in the future. In the past half term, the Party Committee and the commune government have given special priority to planning, expanding and upgrading roads to connect Chau Ly Commune to become the center of the Southwest region of the district and the region with a total investment of over 120 billion VND.

In addition to the traffic project connecting Choong Bung village, Chau Ly commune (Quy Hop) with Tan Hop commune (Tan Ky) which is currently being implemented synchronously, there is also a road connecting Khua village (Chau Ly commune) and Cang village (Chau Dinh commune) with a total investment of 35 billion VND, expected to be constructed in 2024. The completion of this route will promote trade, economic development, connecting Chau Ly commune with Chau Dinh and Van Loi communes...

Many concrete roads within the commune have been invested in a systematic manner, such as the Bon and Tham villages with a total investment of 7.7 billion VND; the Bon - Bang villages with a total investment of 10.8 billion VND; the Con Xao, Ngon Pan, Choong Bung and Lau villages put into use in May 2023, with a total investment of 1.8 billion VND... have been creating a new look, meeting the development requirements in the area.

“One of the strengths of Chau Ly commune is “Party’s will, people’s consensus”, people trust in the people-oriented decisions of the Party Committee and local government. During the past half term, people have voluntarily donated land, donated trees, dismantled constructions, rented cars and excavators to open roads, creating a vibrant movement. The newly opened internal roads are all 7-9 meters wide. The amount of funds mobilized from “people’s strength” to build new rural areas is 1,440 million VND; in addition, people also contributed 7,722 working days, donated 20,048 m2 of land and 1,440 trees of all kinds”- Party Secretary Cao Duy Thai excitedly said.

Exploit potential and strengths

The goal of developing community tourism is also being paid attention to by the Party Committee, the government, and the people of the villages and hamlets in Chau Ly commune. It is a land rich in cultural identity and has many potentials, with famous landscapes such as the Cover waterfall, Tan waterfall, Ken waterfall, and a system of interesting caves such as the Vuc and Tham caves, Dong Vinh caves and clear streams in Vuc 1, Vuc 2, Bon villages... Especially the famous Choong Temple Historical Relic in the Northwest of Nghe An, located on Pu Den mountain in the center of the ancient Muong Choong, with charming mountains and rivers, cultural sediments and extremely rich spiritual life.

Currently, with the special attention of the District Party Committee and People's Committee of Quy Hop District, Chau Ly Commune has begun to promote and develop the value of historical relics and scenic spots in the area. This determination is demonstrated by putting Choong Bung village community tourism into operation under the homestay model.

Mr. Lo Van Hoang - Secretary of the Choong Bung village Party Cell added: When we first started, farmers who have been attached to rice and potatoes all their lives did not understand what community tourism was like. However, with the encouragement of the local government, through study trips to homestay tourist spots in the province and neighboring provinces such as Pu Luong (Thanh Hoa), Mai Chau (Hoa Binh) ..., we have drawn on our experiences to build the first community tourist spots of the village with the cultural identity of Muong Choong.

Thanks to that, although it has not been in operation for long, the homestay model has become a favorite destination for tourists, opening up a new direction for local development.

Despite many efforts and attempts, due to the low starting point, the local poverty rate is still high (accounting for 23.34%), many households still have difficulties in housing. That is also the biggest concern of the local Party Committee and government. Therefore, the Executive Committee of Chau Ly Commune Party Committee for the 2020-2025 term held a meeting to discuss and find directions for economic development based on existing potential and strengths. In particular, it is determined to continue shifting the economic structure towards increasing the proportion of forestry, industries, and services; propagating and mobilizing people to innovate their thinking and working methods, focusing on developing processing, transporting raw acacia wood and support services, in order to increase economic efficiency on planted forest areas.

Chairman of the People's Committee of Vi Van Quanh commune added: With a total existing planted forest area of ​​over 3,000 hectares of raw acacia, according to the current cycle, each year the commune will exploit and plant new acacia alternately, reaching an estimated 500 hectares of raw acacia. At the price in 2022, the total revenue per hectare of acacia is estimated at 130 million VND; the total income of the whole commune in 2022 from acacia trees is estimated at 65 billion VND.

Income from acacia trees has become a strength in the economic development of Chau Ly commune; currently, many groups of workers specializing in planting, weeding, exploiting and transporting acacia have been formed; creating jobs and increasing income for local people. Along with stabilizing the area of ​​acacia trees, the economic structure is developing in the direction of opening up industries and services.

In addition to 4 weighing stations for purchasing 4 acacia processing factories, a large project on investing in a factory for purchasing and processing raw acacia wood (THT Company) has been and is in the process of applying for an investment license in Khua village. Trade and services are developing rapidly with a diverse system of kiosks and shops along National Highway 48C, from electronics, car and motorbike repair to grocery, food and health care, meeting the needs of the people, creating jobs, increasing income and improving the lives of people in the villages and hamlets in the area.

Chau Ly, a "difficult area" today, has truly transformed itself, living up to the expectations of being a cluster of communes decades ago. The attention and support of the province and district, along with the creative and correct steps of the local Party Committee and government in exploiting potentials and strengths; knowing how to promote the spirit of solidarity, "unanimity from top to bottom" of the ethnic people in the work of poverty reduction and new rural construction... have been creating a new wind to help the commune step by step confidently rise up.