The most beautiful irrigation dam in Nghe An releases water to regenerate the reservoir.

(Baonghean.vn) - Pha Lai Dam is the largest irrigation project in Mon Son commune, Con Cuong district, which was started in early 2000 and completed in May 2002.

In recent years, Pha Lai Dam has become an ecotourism destination in the Mon Son region.

The construction project aims to serve the farming and daily life of the people and stabilize the local ecosystem. On average, once a year, Mon Son commune, in coordination with the Southwest Irrigation Company, carries out repairs and upgrades to the dam, releasing water to dredge mud, both for irrigation and to restore the environmental landscape for tourism. The water release period is from May 28th to June 4th, 2016.

In the mornings or afternoons, the people of Mon Son still catch shrimp and fish in the Giang River at the foot of the Pha Lai dam to supplement their meals.

During the summer months, the Thai people take advantage of the opportunity to go to the river to catch shrimp and fish.

The dam is 6-8 meters high and carries a considerable amount of water, annually diverting water to irrigation canals to serve inland irrigation. Therefore, the Muong Qua rice fields in Mon Son are always a "rice granary" with relatively high yields in Con Cuong district. The rice here is quite delicious, hence the saying "rice from Muong Qua, fish from the Giang River" when visiting Con Cuong.

Thanks to the Pha Lai dam, rice yields in Mon Son commune have reached 60-65 tons/ha.

The Pha Lai Dam – etymologically, in Thai, "Pha" means sky, and "Lai" means flower. Pha Lai therefore means "flower of the sky." Since the construction of the Pha Lai Dam, the Giang River seems to have been "tamed." From the Pha Lai Dam, tourists can take boat tours to visit the Dan Lai ethnic minority people in the two villages of Co Phat and Bung, located in the Vietnam-Laos border area. The Giang River also provides the local people with special native aquatic species such as: catfish, barramundi, mudfish, snakehead fish, and eels...

These days, services on the Pha Lai dam are temporarily suspended for dredging and cleaning the riverbed.

Since the Pha Lai dam was completed, the local people have taken advantage of the favorable natural conditions. Some people (both locals and those from other places) have built floating restaurants on the water to serve tourists with local culinary specialties and to meet their needs for sightseeing in the southwestern region of Nghe An province.

Rose