Panorama of Ly Son Island - Photo: TRAN MAI
From here, Ly Son island district, which was purely agricultural and fishery, transformed into a tourist and service island. Before electricity was available, the entire island had only a few small motels.
Currently, the island has 133 accommodation establishments, including: 14 hotels, 57 motels, 62 homestays, with 1,069 rooms, able to serve over 3,000 guests/day.
Memories of power generation "one night yes, one night no"
The old stories of a time are imprinted in the memories of those who lived through a difficult time.
Before 1999, the island had no electricity. In 1999, a diesel generator provided electricity to nearly 2,000/4,000 households. However, each commune was only allowed to use electricity on a rotating basis, "one night on, one night off", generating electricity for six hours a day at night.
In January 2002, the People's Committee of Ly Son district handed over the power system to the electricity industry. After receiving it, over the years the electricity industry has renovated, upgraded and added eight generators, but it only generates electricity from 5pm to 11pm to serve the minimum needs of the islanders.
Before 2014, the number of passenger ships from the mainland to Ly Son was very small and it took more than an hour to reach the island. That journey made many tourists seasick. At that time, the island only had one fishing port that was shared by all passenger ships. Just after getting over the seasickness, tourists were "breathless" by the smell of fish.
Getting to the island, but finding a motel was difficult. Because the whole island only had Binh Yen motel, Dai Duong motel and Ly Son hotel. The total number of rooms was less than 40.
Mr. Thoi opened the earliest motel on the island, Binh Yen motel with six rooms. The motel was always full, but the service was terrible. Guests complained that it was too hot to sleep.
"The diesel power plant generates electricity at 5pm and turns off at 11pm. But no one dares to use it much because if it's left open, it's overloaded. There's a lot of trouble because of the lack of electricity," said Mr. Thoi.
At night in Ly Son there are no street lights. Night services are limited to a few xoa xoa and chè shops. Some shops near the wharf that want to operate at night have to run on generators. Customers have to listen to the deafening sound of the engines as they sip their drinks.
Even the fishing fleet in Ly Son cannot import fuel, ice... to go offshore because the whole island has no ice facility. They have to spend money to send their ships to Sa Ky port to import necessities.
Education and healthcare cannot be upgraded properly due to lack of electricity, even though the general policy is to always give the best to this outpost island.
Electricity grid has helped Ly Son develop, attracting more tourists - Photo: TRAN MAI
National electricity across the sea, Ly Son lights up
On September 8, 2014, the last meters of nearly 27km of underground cables carrying electricity from Binh Hai commune, Binh Son district to Ly Son island reached the shore. On September 28, 2014, the electricity was officially turned on. The transformation of the outpost island began.
Since the national grid was installed, the nights on the island are no longer quiet, lights are everywhere. Famous places such as Hang Cau, Hang Pagoda, Duc Pagoda... have become interesting places to visit at night. Communal houses, temples, mausoleums... associated with the customs of the sea in the homeland of Hoang Sa Squadron also "participate" in night-time economic activities.
In the planning of Quang Ngai province for the period of 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050, the Provincial People's Committee determined to build Ly Son into a coastal city. The province especially prioritizes capital investment in infrastructure, aiming to turn Ly Son into a type 4 urban area (period 2026 - 2030) and soon achieve the criteria of a type 3 urban area - a unique coastal and island urban area of the province and the whole country in the future.
The economic structure in Ly Son has changed, besides the story of garlic and fish, now we also consider developing tourism and services. The proportion of the trade and service industry is constantly increasing, gradually becoming a spearhead.
In the first six months of 2024, the value of commercial and service production accounted for about 42% of the total production value of the island district. The average growth rate of the commercial and service sector in the period 2015 - 2020 was 25.2%/year.
Total retail sales of goods and service revenue, especially transportation revenue, increased by an average of 40%. Total revenue from trade and service activities in 2019 - 2021 reached about 1,000 billion VND.
Currently, Ly Son has about 2,000 households operating in the trade and service sector and about 3,000 direct workers in the tourism and service sectors.
If there had not been the COVID-19 pandemic, Ly Son's growth rate would have been much higher. In 2019, the island welcomed more than 265,000 visitors. But this number became modest during the pandemic. Currently, Ly Son is gradually returning to the growth "track". In the first six months of the year, there were 80,000 visitors to the island. In the past two months, hotels and motels on the island have always been fully booked.
Ms. Pham Thi Huong, Chairwoman of the People's Committee of Ly Son district, said that she was born and raised on the island, witnessed the years without electricity, then unstable electricity, the people's lives were very difficult, most of them working hard with agriculture and fishing.
"Thank you very much to the electricity industry for bringing national electricity to the island. Without the grid, Ly Son would have difficulty developing as it is today. The most obvious value of electricity is that healthcare and education on the island are much different than before.
The district health center has full medical examination and treatment equipment like the mainland. Highly specialized doctors and nurses also work on the island more. Students on the island study and pass exams more often. One student is even the valedictorian of Hanoi Medical University," said Ms. Huong.
According to Ms. Huong, thanks to electricity, attracting investment is easier. The average income on the island is currently 37 million VND/person, a number that before 2014, we would not have dared to dream of.
Even happier is that the national cross-sea power grid has "pulled" many children of Ly Son who left the island before, returning to invest in developing their homeland. Previously, Mr. Nguyen Nhan left the island to work far away. When the island had national power grid, he decided to return to his hometown to invest in the Ngoc Ly Son Island hotel and resort. In 2019, the hotel officially welcomed guests and the number of tourists increased steadily over the years.
"Honestly, before, I did not dare to invest in hotels on the island. But since electricity has been available, hotels have been invested a lot. Electricity has helped me and many of my brothers return to develop our hometown instead of going far away to make a living," Mr. Nhan shared.
Electricity workers check and handle electrical infrastructure on the island - Photo: TRAN MAI
Mr. Vo Van Tam, Deputy Director of Ly Son Electricity, said that after 10 years of having national grid electricity, the electricity infrastructure has now covered the entire island. The total electricity usage is currently only about 30% of the power supply capacity of the submarine cable.
"The remaining 70% is enough to serve the projects that investors are calculating and researching in Ly Son in the future. We will provide electricity as the project progresses. The electricity industry is very happy to join hands to develop Ly Son in the past 10 years and in the future," said Mr. Tam.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/10-nam-dien-quoc-gia-vuot-bien-ly-son-tang-toc-khong-ngung-20240928100115484.htm
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