Movement to 'remove narrow roads and open big roads' in mountainous commune of Bong Khe
Land is a valuable asset because “every inch of land is worth its weight in gold”! However, in Bong Khe commune, Con Cuong mountainous district, many people are willing to donate land, cut down trees, demolish solid structures, and clear the ground to “remove narrow roads and open large roads”, creating a vibrant and widespread movement, bringing a new look to their homeland.
People spend money to raise roads and build bridges
Thanh Nam village - located on the left bank of Lam river in Bong Khe commune (Con Cuong district), previously the traffic system was not synchronized, mainly narrow 2m roads with many small and hidden curves.
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However, thanks to "skillful" mass mobilization work, people now unanimously donate land, break down surrounding walls, build ditches, build embankments, widen roads by 3-5m, and widen corners, three-way and four-way intersections to make them airy, clean and beautiful.
Mr. Vo Duc Dao, born in 1971 - Head of Thanh Nam village, excitedly said: The village has 153 households, 614 people, divided into 3 blocks and 5 residential clusters. Due to the sparse housing, there are high slopes, and low-lying areas, so in many locations, when building roads, people have to lower the height, raise the ground or rebuild the embankment.
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Initially, the village planned to build a 3m road, but in some places, people proactively donated land and trees to widen it to 5m without asking for any benefits.
The whole village has 32 households donating land and relocating constructions. On average, each household contributed 13 million VND. Combined with state-provided cement and local gravel to build roads, up to now, 3,200m of road has been built, almost covering the entire village with concrete.
Typically, Mrs. Le Thi Thi's household retreated 1m in depth and 50m in length; Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung's household voluntarily cut down the garden to widen the road to make it more beautiful and airy.
Coming to Thanh Nam village, we also witnessed some households who not only donated land to open roads but also spent 40-50 million VND to build fences and reinforce stone embankments. For example, the household of Mr. Truong Ngoc Bao - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Bong Khe commune located on the main road of the village, the whole family agreed to move the fence back 1.8m deep, 15m long; at the same time, demolish the stone embankment to upgrade and expand rural roads.
Or the spirit of donating land to open roads and contributing funds to build hard bridges by 6 households on the branch road in cluster 4.
"Sharing the same thought of opening a road not only beautifies the village and neighborhood but first of all serves the convenient travel of the people, so even though there are only 6 households, we encouraged each other to contribute funds to build more than 300m of road wider than 3m and a hard bridge worth 40 million VND" - Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - Secretary of Thanh Nam Village Party Cell shared.
It is known that the family of this Party Secretary alone contributed 27 million VND (of which 17 million VND was used to fill the roadbed). Up to now, 98% of the internal roads in Thanh Nam village have been expanded.
Party members go first
For Lien Tan and Tan Dan villages, the policy of expanding the traffic route has been agreed and supported by the majority of the people. However, the difficulty is that these villages are all located in the central area of the commune; the gates and fences are usually solid structures, the road expansion process affects many households.
However, with the spirit of "only discussing, not retreating", after the commune's policy on expanding roads, the Party Committee and the Front Committee of the villages organized meetings with the people to discuss, "go to every alley, knock on every door" to propagate and mobilize people to understand and agree with the motto "The State and the people work together". At the same time, they promoted the spirit of "Party members go first, the country follows" in donating land and opening roads.
The family of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh - Secretary of the Lien Tan Village Party Cell is one of the pioneers in donating land, moving back 1m in depth, 20m in length, breaking down fences, and removing corrugated iron roofs to widen the road. "Touching land means touching economic interests, but both husband and wife are party members, so we determined to "set an example" for the benefit of the community."
In 2024, Lien Tan village registered to upgrade and expand 3/5 of the roads with a total length of about 900m equivalent to 1,800m of fence, of which 1,400m need to be cleared.
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Most of the households along the road donated land, from 50 centimeters to 1 meter deep. In some cases of difficult circumstances without funds to rebuild the demolished structures, such as the family of Ms. Trinh Thi Minh, the Party Committee called on Party members in the Party cell to donate 5 million VND, and the village Veterans Association took on the task of helping the family demolish the old fence and build a new one.
In Tan Dan village, which registered to build two roads with a width of 5-6m, many families of party members have set an example in donating land without asking for any benefits. A typical example is the family of Mr. Dang Dinh Cat (55 years of Party membership) who donated red-covered land 1.5m deep, 14m long to widen the 5m road according to the policy of the commune and village.
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Talking to us, the “old and bright” party member said: “Land is precious to everyone, but we must look to the future, for the sake of our children and grandchildren. Moreover, the commune and village are currently building civilized alleys, opening wide roads, ensuring convenient traffic, which is necessary to change the face of our homeland.”
The whole political system is involved.
Uncle Ho's teaching: "The people's strength is very great... If the people's movement is skillful, everything will be successful" has become the motto of the political system of Bong Khe commune in implementing Resolution No. 187-NQ/DU dated March 27, 2024 on leading the construction of roads in 2024 in the commune.
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According to Mr. Phan Trong Trung - Chairman of Bong Khe Commune People's Committee, this locality has met the new rural standards since 2018, but the internal roads are mostly only 2.4m-2.5m wide, the branch roads and roads to the production area are still narrow. Therefore, the Party Committee, government and people are determined to expand the roads to develop the economy and society, meeting the criteria for building advanced new rural areas.
After proposing the policy and receiving the agreement of the Con Cuong District People's Committee to support 1,000 tons of cement, Bong Khe Commune established a Steering Committee from the commune to the village; assigned specific tasks to each group and department in charge of each cluster and each village. The Commune also committed in writing to the District People's Committee that the completion time is September 2024.
Accordingly, the Party Committee and the government have directed the Fatherland Front and mass organizations at the commune level to coordinate with the Party Committee and the Management Board of the villages to disseminate and thoroughly implement the plan for new rural construction, especially the criteria for building roads to 11/11 villages and hamlets. In particular, special attention is paid to the "exemplary" role of cadres and party members in the political system.
The commune-level authorities also directed villages and hamlets to implement the motto: "People know, people discuss, people do, people check, people supervise, people benefit", and to publicly and transparently disclose revenue and expenditure to create trust and consensus among the people.
In cases of disagreement, the leaders of the Party Committee and the commune government personally accompany the grassroots to persistently propagate and explain so that people understand and support. For example, the case of Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Kieu's family in Thanh Nam village was initially not in agreement, but after the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee personally went to their house to propagate and mobilize.
Immediately after that, Mr. Kieu voluntarily cut down the fruit trees, broke down the fence, demolished the gate, and built a solid embankment to widen the road with a total length of more than 40m, set back from 1.2m to 1.6m on both sides, costing more than 50 million VND. Just the 2m3 embankment alone, Mr. Kieu's family spent 19 million VND in labor costs, not including steel.
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In addition to propaganda work, Bong Khe commune also implemented a number of policies to support people. Accordingly, in addition to cement and stone, the commune supported excavators and transport vehicles to help villages clear land and relocate electric poles; supported people in dismantling fences and solidly built gates; and reinforced some areas at risk of landslides.
In 2024, up to now, the commune budget has supported 1 billion 130 million VND for villages to upgrade and expand roads; auxiliary works, cultural institutions.
Some households in extremely difficult circumstances, with the spirit of volunteering to donate land to open roads, such as the family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Vien in Lien Tan village, received financial support from the commune government to rebuild the demolished fence.
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To ensure the rights of people donating land to open roads, the Bong Khe commune government also directed relevant departments to coordinate with district-level departments and branches to urgently review and complete land adjustment records. "We have determined that people who have donated land and land acquisition and clearance will not have to bear the costs of measuring and adjusting records, but will be taken from the local budget," said Mr. Phan Trong Trung - Chairman of the Bong Khe commune People's Committee.
Thanks to skillful mass mobilization, in the first 6 months of 2024, in 10/11 villages and hamlets of Bong Khe commune, 174 households donated land; 131 households donated fences, constructions, trees... with a total amount of 22 billion VND. The whole commune has completed 32/33 routes, with a total length of 5,927m/6,227m. Currently, there is 1 route in Lien Tan village that has completed drainage ditches on both sides and is continuing to pour concrete on the remaining 300m of road.
“Currently, Bong Khe commune is requesting an additional 1,000 tons of cement to build new rural areas and has been approved by the province to continue implementing the advanced rural area program for the period 2021-2025,” said Mr. Cao Tien Thinh - Vice Chairman of Bong Khe Commune People's Committee.
With the synchronous participation of the entire political system, the consensus of "Party's will, people's heart", there will be more projects, many new roads upgraded and expanded, towards the future of merging Bong Khe commune and Tien Thanh village, Chi Khe commune into Con Cuong town to form Tra Lan town - the economic and social center of Con Cuong district.