The role of Party branches in building new rural areas in Nghia Phu

In Nghia Phu village, Quynh Nghia commune (Quynh Luu district), most residents work in salt production, fishing, and carpentry. Salt production only lasts about four months a year, resulting in unstable income and difficult living conditions for the people. Transportation is quite complex due to the provincial road running through the village, narrow village lanes and alleys, and several "bottleneck" points. Only over 30% of the rural road infrastructure in phase 1 has been paved with concrete. These are the most challenging issues that the village Party branch constantly worries about: how to improve road access and living standards for the residents.

Comrade Hoang Ngoc Binh - Secretary of the Nghia Phu village Party branch (wearing a white shirt) directs the removal of fences and trees donated by residents to widen the road. Photo: PV

In response to this situation, the Party branch held a meeting and assigned each Party member to be responsible for 10 or more households. In addition, various mass organizations such as youth, women's, veterans', farmers', Red Cross, and education promotion associations actively propagated and mobilized their members to participate in practical and effective activities. As a result, the resolutions of the Party at all levels and of the Party branch were quickly implemented and received widespread support from the people.

Thanks to the skillful approach, exemplary conduct, creativity, and dedication of Comrade Hoang Ngoc Binh - Party Branch Secretary and Comrade Truong Dac Ky - Deputy Party Branch Secretary and Village Head, the New Rural Development program in Nghia Phu village has achieved results beyond expectations.

In phase 1, the village mobilized people to donate land and assets totaling nearly 1.8 billion VND. People also lent the hamlet 390 million VND, notably the family of the village head lent the hamlet 200 million VND. People also allowed the hamlet to defer payment of labor costs totaling 300 million VND and contributed over 30 million VND in cash.

Residents of Nghia Phu village participate in cleaning up after land clearance for the new rural road project. Photo: PV

As a result, the hamlet has constructed nearly 1,200 meters of Grade A roads, 4.5 meters wide, nearly 1.5 kilometers of concrete drainage ditches, a 650 square meter cultural center courtyard; 5 bridges, 1 culvert over the ditch, hundreds of meters of concrete roads; and restored boundary walls and other structures, totaling nearly 2.3 billion VND.

Thanks to the consensus of the people, the dynamism of the village officials, the Fatherland Front committee, and mass organizations, the project achieved good quality. The village's innovative approach saved the people over 1 billion VND.

The achievements in the first phase of road construction built trust among the people regarding the village leaders' approach to road construction. Therefore, entering the second phase of rural road construction – the most difficult phase due to the narrow terrain and numerous households – but with the experience of the village secretary and head in propaganda and mobilization, and implementing the principle of the state and people working together, Nghia Phu village quickly achieved success.

In late 2017, the village continued to mobilize residents to donate land and labor to improve the value of rural development in terms of transportation infrastructure and irrigation canals. Following the principle of "the people know, the people discuss, the people do, the people inspect," after being encouraged by the Party branch and the village, residents voluntarily contributed money to build roads. The village committee hired local workers, and residents in each residential area helped with the construction, allowing them to monitor the quality of the work. This approach ensured high-quality construction, adherence to technical design specifications, no material was skimped, and 40% of the total construction cost was saved.

In early 2018, the people of Nghia Phu rejoiced as the narrow, once-bottlenecked roads were now opened up and more accessible. Three Grade A internal village roads, totaling nearly 300 meters in length and over 3.5 meters in width, with a 16 cm thick concrete surface, were completed; along with three irrigation ditches, nearly 300 meters long, with a total construction value of 650 million VND.

Building boundary walls to return land donated by local residents. Photo: PV

To build the new roads, the residents donated nearly 80 meters of land.²Roadside land, many perennial fruit trees, with a total value of nearly 140 million VND, typical examples being the families of Mr. Minh and Mr. Chinh, who did not hesitate to donate land and property when asked by the village. Mr. Truong Dac Ky - Deputy Secretary and Village Head - lent the village 200 million VND in the first phase, and this time, he continued to encourage his children and grandchildren working far from home to lend the village another 150 million VND for the New Rural Development program.

As he led us on a tour of the newly completed, challenging sections of road, Comrade Truong Dac Ky could not hide his joy:"These roads, which were previously dirt roads only a little over 1 meter wide, have now been widened to 3-3.5 meters, and we've made the manhole covers 16 cm thick so that cars can travel more easily."

With the consensus of the people, the dedication, dynamism, and creativity of the village secretary and head, Nghia Phu village is not only a shining example in building new rural areas, but also an advanced residential area, having participated in the national exemplary conference and receiving a commendation from the Government as an exemplary residential area.

Furthermore, the Nghia Phu village team won the Encouragement Prize at the provincial level in the "Residential Area Says No to Unsafe Food" competition organized by the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee in October 2017; received a commendation from the Provincial People's Committee in 2014; and the Nghia Phu village Party branch was awarded a commendation by the Standing Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee for achieving the status of an outstanding Party branch for five consecutive years.

Comrade Hoang Ngoc Binh – Secretary of the Party branch, said:Although they knew it would be difficult, the Party branch decided to do it no matter how hard it was. The challenge this time was not only to remove the "bottleneck," but also to build a drainage ditch to prevent wastewater from flowing into the salt field canals, thus avoiding environmental pollution in the salt fields. This is because the salt from Quynh Nghia has been inspected and certified by the Japanese JICA Group and they want to sign a sales contract. The project was completed in time for the Lunar New Year of Mau Tuat 2018.