Farmers in mountainous commune of Nghe An contribute tens of millions of VND/household to build new rural roads

There are sections of road running through sparsely populated areas, forcing the people of Nghia Hanh commune to contribute large sums of money to buy enough materials to pour concrete. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Nghia Hanh Commune (Tan Ky) has just completed 10.7 km of concrete village roads. To achieve this, along with the State's cement support, the villagers voluntarily contributed money to buy other materials.

Ms. Pham Thi Thin, a near-poor household in Dong Du hamlet, Nghia Hanh commune, confided: Although her family's circumstances are still difficult, when the hamlet discussed contributing money to build a concrete road, she was willing to contribute 8 million VND. "Building a concrete road has been a dream for many generations, so she was willing to contribute money. When the road is completed, people in the hamlet will be able to travel conveniently" - Ms. Thin confided.

Mr. Nguyen Hai Duong - the head of Dong Du hamlet said: The hamlet has nearly 200 households, but there are up to 11 km of internal roads. That shows that the population here is sparse. Therefore, to pour 100% concrete on the road, in addition to the state's cement support, people also have to pay a lot of money to buy sand and gravel... from 8 - 15 million VND/household (depending on the road).

With the spirit of "A hundred times easier without the people, it is still bearable, a thousand times harder, it can be done with the people", in just 2 months (April and May 2020), Dong Du hamlet completed 7 km of concrete road as planned. Currently, the people are asking the government to support more cement to complete the remaining 4 km of road.

"Not only that, after the concrete was poured on the road surface, two inter-family groups continued to encourage their children to work far away, and at the same time contributed 1 million VND/household to install an outdoor lighting system" - Mr. Nguyen Hai Duong added.

After pouring concrete on the road surface, some inter-family groups of Dong Du hamlet, Nghia Hanh commune contributed more money to install lighting. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tuan - Chairman of Nghia Hanh Commune People's Committee said: In the past 2 months, Nghia Hanh Commune has built 10.7 km of concrete road in the hamlets: Dong Du 7 km, Le Loi hamlet 2 km and Hung Hoa hamlet 1.7 km. People in all 3 hamlets contributed quite a lot of money, at least 8 million VND, maximum 15 million VND/household.

To build so many kilometers of concrete roads, in addition to the cement supported by the state under the National Target Program for New Rural Development, the commune used support from Program 135 of the commune and especially disadvantaged villages and hamlets to buy additional cement for hamlets. After this road concrete construction, Nghia Hanh commune has basically completed the traffic criteria in building new rural areas. According to the plan, by the end of 2020, Nghia Hanh commune will reach the new rural finish line./.