Changes in the land of history

A corner of Dien Bien Phu City today. *Photo: Anh Nguyen*

Memories of the people involved

We had the opportunity to talk with veteran Phan Anh Lam in residential group 3, Muong Ang town (Muong Ang district). He was a Dien Bien soldier in the past, a living witness of the fierce battles on the Dien Bien Phu battlefield. At the Dien Bien Phu battlefield, Mr. Lam was assigned to Regiment 144, Division 312, participating in many battles such as: The battle of Hill E, Hill D, defending the north of Muong Thanh airport... This year, he is 93 years old but Mr. Lam is still lucid. Talking about the changes on the Dien Bien Phu battlefield, Mr. Lam shared: After the end of the campaign, the unit was ordered to withdraw to Phu Tho. Dien Bien Phu at that time was a battlefield, dug up and torn apart by bombs and bullets. Up to now, Dien Bien Phu has "changed its skin" with many miracles. Electricity, roads, schools, and stations have been invested in and built spaciously; culture, education, and health care are given attention; people's lives have improved significantly, there is no longer "hunger" or "ignorance". My children and grandchildren still take me to visit the old battlefield. Now the traffic is convenient, from Muong Ang to Dien Bien Phu City is only about 50 minutes drive. The city seems to be wearing a new coat every year, with spacious infrastructure, many large projects are put into use to serve socio-economic development. In particular, the province's political security situation is always stable, border sovereignty is maintained, creating conditions for economic development.

As a native of Thai Binh who came to participate in building a new economy in the early years after the end of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, Mr. Vu Duc Loi, former Party Secretary of Thanh Binh village, Thanh Luong commune (Dien Bien district) recounted: 59 years ago, when I set foot in Dien Bien, I was only 17 years old. The physical conditions at the new place were difficult and arduous, there were no roads, far from the market and far from the school, full of barbed wire fences, bomb craters, minefields, and dense reeds. Households had to reclaim wasteland, remove barbed wire fences, fill in trenches, and bomb craters to make land for farming. By the end of 1964, 8 hectares of fields had been reclaimed, from here the rice, corn, and cassava fields covered the minefields, bomb craters, and trenches on the old battlefield with a "green color of hope". Now Dien Bien has developed, especially in transportation, with both roads and air routes.

Development efforts

In each development stage, Dien Bien has faced many difficulties and challenges, but has made efforts to overcome them to achieve many achievements in all economic, cultural, social fields, ensuring national defense and security. In the face of the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the whole country, the region and the world in the past 3 years, with the drastic and flexible leadership and direction of the Provincial Party Committee, the People's Council and the People's Committee, closely following the policies and orientations of the Central Government, Dien Bien province has synchronously and effectively implemented key tasks and solutions. Thanks to that, the development goals have always been achieved and exceeded the set plan. The political system has been consolidated from the province to the grassroots level; political security and social order and safety in the area have been ensured. The potential and posture of the entire people's defense associated with the posture of people's security have been enhanced; the strength of the armed forces has met the requirements and tasks in the new situation. The work of preventing corruption, waste and practicing thrift has been promoted and is effective.

In recent years, the province has focused on mobilizing investment resources to develop infrastructure, thanks to which the appearance of urban and rural areas has been increasingly renewed. The transport network of the whole province has been expanded. Key transport works such as: 60m road (Dien Bien Phu city); 42m, 27m inner-city roads (Muong Ang district) ... completed and put into use not only make the urban areas more spacious and modern but also create a driving force to promote socio-economic development. The upgraded transport system, ensuring cars can reach 100% of communes, has narrowed the gap between regions, promoted economic development, and reduced poverty in rural areas and mountainous border areas. Up to now, the whole province has 21/115 communes meeting new rural standards; 122 villages and hamlets have been recognized as meeting new rural standards and model new rural areas; Average income per capita in rural areas reached 26 million VND/year; the poverty rate in rural areas decreased to 36.57%.

Administrative reform associated with digital transformation has been vigorously implemented by all levels of government, not only to serve people and businesses better but also to innovate and improve the effectiveness of management. Up to now, the sending and receiving of electronic documents with digital signatures between state administrative agencies has been deployed from the provincial to the grassroots level and achieved many positive results, helping to shorten processing time, reduce paperwork, and ensure transparency.

Promoting the achieved results, to successfully implement the goals of the Resolution of the 14th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025 with the determination to "bring Dien Bien to develop rapidly and sustainably", Dien Bien province continues to focus on implementing key tasks in the short and long term. In which, focusing on completing the Dien Bien Provincial Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050. Mobilizing investment resources to develop the socio-economic infrastructure system in a synchronous and gradually modern direction, focusing on: Dien Bien Airport Construction and Expansion Investment Project; routes connecting key economic areas in the dynamic economic region along National Highway 279 and National Highway 12; Dien Bien - Son La Expressway Project. Towards the 70th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory in 2024, Dien Bien province has implemented many programs, receiving attention and support from the Central Government and provinces and cities across the country such as: "Lighting up Dien Bien" program with the goal of providing electricity to over 11,000 households in disadvantaged areas; implementing the construction of 5,000 solidarity houses for poor households.

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