Hear the story of road opening in the West

People donate land, property...

Mon Son Commune, Con Cuong mountainous district is a revolutionary base, a red address - where the first Party cell of the highland region of Nghe Tinh province was born on April 14, 1931. Every year, on April 14, people of Mon Son, Luc Da, and Yen Khe communes joyfully hold festivals, review their glorious history, participate in Muong Qua fairs, and compete in physical education and sports between villages.

Ms. Lo Thi Dung walks on the newly upgraded and expanded Tung Cong road. Photo: HT

Old lady Lo Thi Dung, who has devoted her whole life to Yen Khe land, slowly walks with a wooden stick on the wide, clean and shady concrete road, smiling brightly. “Her contribution is just a small grain of sand in the ocean, a good life is also for her descendants to follow. Therefore, when the village cadres came to ask for land to widen the road, she agreed to donate land, fences and trees. With a beautiful and spacious road, her descendants can travel comfortably” - old lady Dung shared.

The "small grain of sand" that Mr. Dung mentioned is more than 22 m.²residential land and nearly 18m of wall, 2 solidly built gate pillars and many long-standing fruit trees. The house of gratitude of Mrs. Dung is nestled on Tung Cong road of Pha village, Yen Khe commune. Tung Cong road used to be only 3m wide, after Mrs. Dung and the people donated land and trees, it was concreted to 11m wide. Mrs. Dung's house was built by the State for her to worship her husband, a martyr who died fighting the French more than 50 years ago. After the same number of years, now 83 years old, Mrs. Dung has raised her daughter, disabled due to war consequences, alone, and also takes care of her brother's 2 great-grandchildren. After donating land and property to Pha village to build a new rural road, the yard is narrower, but she is still happy and thinks, "it is a small thing to do so that future generations can be happy".

In Pha village, not only Mr. Dung, but many other households also sacrificed their interests and properties so that the village could have a beautiful road. For example, Mr. Luong Van Hoang's family donated more than 125 m²residential land and 22m of wall, Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh donated nearly 107m²residential land and 18m of wall, Mr. Nguyen Van Viet's family donated more than 80m²residential land and 9m of wall... For Tung Cong road alone, Pha villagers donated nearly 500m²residential land and hundreds of meters of wall and 10 solid gate pillars...

People of Yen Khe commune dismantled fences, cut down orange trees and donated land to hand over the site to the contractor to prepare for the construction of Tung Cong road through Pha and Nua villages. Photo: HT

Pha village chief, Mr. Tang Ngoc Son, who has been the secretary and then village chief for 24 years, said, “Pha village has never been as innovative as it is today. The roads contain the personal sacrifices of many households, as well as the support of the Party and the State. Thanks to that, Pha village people now have wide and beautiful roads, water leading to their fields and gardens, and electricity to the remote villages and alleys, replacing the muddy, slippery, and lack of electricity and water scenes of the past.”

Having said that, Mr. Son drove his motorbike to lead us along the flat, clean concrete roads running through orange groves and lush green corn and peanut hillsides. As we drove, the Pha Village Secretary informed us that the project to upgrade and expand Tung Cong Road was divided into two phases. The original road was only over 3m wide, passing through many residential areas and production areas of households.

“At first, many households did not agree to donate land, walls, and trees because of the impact. However, the land clearance campaign committee of the commune and village, in conjunction with organizations and the leadership of party members, persistently persuaded people to see the benefits of upgrading the road. In some cases, we had to meet and talk to them five or seven times before they agreed,” Mr. Son happily said.

In 2022, Con Cuong district will focus on improving new rural criteria in the three communes of Yen Khe, Bong Khe and Chi Khe, and continue to build criteria in other communes. With the consensus of the people, 443 villages and hamlets have responded to build rural roads, dredge canals and donate land, and open roads with an estimated cost of nearly 6 billion VND...

Open the roads to prosperity

Tung Cong Street in Yen Khe Commune before (top photo) and after upgrading (bottom photo). Photo: HT

Western Nghe An has a natural area accounting for 2/3 of the whole province, the terrain is mainly mountains and forests, many places have an altitude of over 2,000m above sea level. The biggest obstacle to socio-economic development here is the difficulty of traffic, the harshness of natural disasters and weather. Therefore, opening new roads and upgrading the traffic system here is also opening up civilization and modernity to the villages. "With roads, motorbikes and cars can go there, then agricultural products can be sold, and there will be money. Sick people who want to go to the hospital with a nice road will no longer be disadvantaged" - Mr. Vi Van Long in Coi village, Luong Minh commune (Tuong Duong) expressed.

These days in April, the people of Coi village, Luong Minh commune (Tuong Duong) wake up at dawn, bring hoes and shovels, and call each other to clear the road. Along the slopes, people stand in long lines, clearing bushes and leveling the road to create a new road leading to the production area. "For a long time, the villagers have had to climb mountains and wade through bumpy streams to visit their fields, plant trees, and take care of their livestock because there is no road. The rice and squash grown are only brought home for family use, and it is difficult to sell because there is no road for vehicles to get there" - said Mr. Long, a local resident.

People of Coi village, Luong Minh commune, open the road to the production area. Photo: CSCC

Chairman of Luong Minh Commune People's Committee, Mr. Vi Dinh Phuc added: Only by opening roads can people develop their economy. Currently, there is no funding source to build concrete roads, so people join hands to open dirt roads first. Coi village people worked hard in both campaigns to build roads in 6 days, opening 1.4 km of mountain road, digging hundreds of cubic meters of soil and rock. In addition to Coi village, 160 people from Cham Puong village also contributed 1.5 working days each to open a new road to the production area, more than 400m long.

In Luong Minh commune, opening new roads and upgrading old roads has become a movement that not only brings convenience to people in raising livestock and growing crops, but also opens up a way of thinking about economic development and trading goods. In just the first 3 months of 2023, in addition to opening new roads to production areas in Coi and Cham Puong villages, Luong Minh people also repaired 4 km of Coi and Ca Moong villages to serve the needs of traveling and exchanging goods.

Mr. Luong Ba Vin - Head of the Mass Mobilization Committee of Tuong Duong District Party Committee said that for many years, the movement to build rural roads has spread widely to every family, village and hamlet. Thanks to this movement, many new roads have been opened, upgraded, and opened up to facilitate people's production. For example, maintaining and repairing roads in 2 communes in the Ban Ve Hydropower Reservoir, Nga My commune and roads to production areas in extremely difficult remote communes in 2022. The whole district has mobilized 5,513 people to participate, with 18,574 working days; clearing 148,921 m², excavated and filled 51,821 m³soil and rock to build 44 roads with a total length of more than 100 km. Along with that, the State provided 2,250 tons of cement to the communes, built over 15 km of village roads with concrete, mobilized 11,460 working days and people contributed 8,280 m³Sand, gravel, donated 15,000 m²land. Estimated cost of people's contribution is more than 35 billion VND.

People in Tuong Duong district contribute their efforts to build rural and intra-field roads. Photo: HT

It can be said that in the past 10 years, the most obvious change in Western Nghe An is the expansion of roads. The strong development of transport infrastructure has opened up economic and social innovations. In mountainous districts such as Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Que Phong, Con Cuong... most communes have asphalt roads leading to the commune center. The transport system connecting to the center of villages and hamlets is almost "covered" with solid concrete roads.

Thanks to the "guidance" of traffic infrastructure, markets for trading goods have also been formed, opening up not only opportunities for service business and economic development, but also opening up people's thinking about self-awareness, escaping from waiting and dependence. For example, National Highway 16 passing through Nhon Mai and Mai Son (Que Phong) makes it easier for people to travel and children to go to school; buying and selling goods and agricultural products has also been updated to families.

Thanks to this route, Mai Son fair was opened in January 2023. Then My Ly fair (Ky Son) also opened at the beginning of the new spring after the main traffic routes of the commune were upgraded to the villages. The leader of Ky Son District People's Committee said that in 2022, the district was allocated 900 tons of cement for the communes and villages registered to meet new rural standards; people contributed more than 20,000 working days to open and repair 669.6 km of village and hamlet roads...

The joy of My Ly commune people when there is a market. Photo: HT

With the motto of the State and the People working together, after only 3 years (2019 - 2022), the Western region of Nghe An has 674 villages and hamlets meeting new rural standards. Of which, 570 villages and hamlets are in disadvantaged mountainous communes. Many localities have linked new rural construction at the village and hamlet level with community tourism to preserve the cultural identity of villages and hamlets. Typical examples are the community tourism model in Nua village, Pha village, Yen Khe commune, Xieng village, Mon Son commune (Con Cuong); Hoa Tien village, Chau Tien commune (Quy Chau); Thai Minh village, Tien Ky commune (Tan Ky), Yen Hoa village, My Ly commune, Muong Long 2 village, Muong Long commune (Ky Son) ...

At the workshop on building new rural areas in villages and hamlets associated with socio-economic development in Western Nghe An, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Nghia Hieu emphasized that in the implementation process, the Western localities have had creative ways and approaches suitable to the actual situation of the locality to upgrade and develop the transport infrastructure system associated with effective economic models and methods. From there, it helps people promote their role as the subject, push back the mentality of waiting and relying, creating a competitive atmosphere among families, clans, and villages and hamlets. This is the driving force and favorable condition for Nghe An to achieve the goal in the period of 2021-2025, the whole province has 80% of the extremely disadvantaged villages and hamlets meeting new rural standards.