Suffering from traffic congestion
The Ban Ve hydroelectric reservoir area in Tuong Duong district has 3 communes: Nhon Mai, Mai Son and Huu Khuong. This is the place where Mong, Thai and Kho Mu people live.
For a long time, to get to these 3 communes, Tuong Duong district had 2 options, one is to go by road around Ky Son district, with a distance of about 180km. The second way is to take a motorboat, cutting through the waves of the hydroelectric reservoir for about 2 hours to reach Huu Khuong, and longer to reach Nhon Mai and Mai Son communes.
It is said that you can go by road to the commune center, but that is a "borrowed road", passing through Ky Son district... taking half a day. As for taking a motorboat, if it rains heavily, the wind is strong... then you have to give up. The land of Ban Ve hydroelectric reservoir is therefore like an "isolated" area, no one can go in or out. Because the road through Ky Son district is also full of dangerous landslides, making it very difficult to travel during floods.
And without saying, it is easy to imagine the difficult life of the residents of the 3 communes in the reservoir area, especially in Huu Khuong commune. When we visited Huu Khuong commune at the end of August, the Chairman of the People's Committee - Lo Van Giap revealed a painful reality: The area of wet rice is more than 25ha, the area of upland rice is more than 30ha... so it is only enough to eat. The main income of the people is 240ha of cassava, but it is very difficult to sell, and the price is also very low because the cost of transportation by both road and water is very difficult and expensive. Production here is heavily self-sufficient. Therefore, the poverty rate is still more than 76%.
Mai Son and Nhon Mai communes also face many difficulties. Although they are close to National Highway 16, making it easier to trade with the outside world, it still takes about 120km to reach the district center of Tuong Duong. Therefore, many transactions between the people and the government face certain difficulties.
Not to mention, the orientation of economic development of the communes in the Northwest of Tuong Duong district (Nhon Mai, Mai Son, Huu Khuong) is facing difficulties. Head of the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs of Tuong Duong district - Tran Van Toan informed: Nhon Mai commune has a poverty rate of 51.94%, near-poor 22.89%; Mai Son commune has a poverty rate of 64.97%, near-poor 21.24%. The economy of the people in the 3 communes in the Ban Ve hydropower reservoir area is mainly agricultural, basically still self-sufficient.
Faced with this reality, Nghe An province has implemented a project to open a road from Yen Tinh commune to Huu Khuong commune, to Nhon Mai and Mai Son communes. The project is expected to awaken the potential and strengths of the Northwest region of Tuong Duong district; at the same time, complete the goal of 100% of communes having car roads to the center. The project was assigned by the province to the Department of Transport as the investor.
The plan is difficult to succeed!?
In fact, for many years now, the concern of thousands of Thai, Kho Mu, Mong households in the three communes of Nhon Mai, Mai Son, Huu Khuong, has been to soon have a road connecting to the center of Tuong Duong district. In fact, this project was also formed right when the Ban Ve hydroelectric reservoir filled with water in 2009, erasing the previous roads.
In the fervent desire to have a road to the commune center, the leaders of the communes in the Ban Ve lake area could not hide their joy when the project to open a road from Yen Tinh commune to Huu Khuong commune, to Nhon Mai and Mai Son communes had started several months ago. Both Mr. Lo Van Giap, Chairman of the People's Committee of Huu Khuong commune, Mr. Lu Ngoc Tin h, Chairman of the People's Committee of Nhon Mai commune and Ms. Lo Thi Huong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Mai Son commune were enthusiastic: The locality is very excited, hoping that the road project will be completed soon; it will shorten and make it more convenient to get to the district center, and open up a direction for trade and economic development.
On a working trip at the end of August 2024 to the Ban Ve Lake area, we felt the joy of the local people. The sturdy bridge piers seemed to rise up in the middle of the blue lake. The mountain sections have also been leveled and lowered in height... to make way for the road in the future.
Through our research, the project to open a road from Yen Tinh commune to Huu Khuong commune, to Nhon Mai and Mai Son communes has three bridges (2 bridges over the lake and 1 bridge over the stream); but currently the bridge in Khe Hoc has not completed the construction procedures, specifically, it still lacks a construction permit. This traffic route currently has more than 8km of land that must pass through forest land, but the procedures for changing the purpose of use have not been completed, leading to the inability to construct.
During the design survey, the construction unit calculated the water level based on the average flood level of many years to construct the bridge. However, this year, due to unusual rain, the flood level of the lake bed is higher than usual, so the construction of the bridge piers is difficult, and the height of the flood level may have to be adjusted.
In addition, this is a road opening project with a unique path, leading to many materials for the bridge girders having to be transported from Ha Tinh province. And to get to the foot of the project, it takes more time and money to transport by boat and ferry.
Another unavoidable reason affecting the progress of the project is that the mountainous region of Nghe An is entering the rainy season. Therefore, the project construction is at times slowing down.
At the meeting between the working delegation of the Ethnic Committee and the leaders of Nghe An province on August 29, Mr. Nguyen Duc An, Deputy Director of the Department of Transport shared: It is expected that in 2024, all the capital allocated from 2022 to 2024 will be disbursed. The industry's determination is to complete in 2025, but due to many difficulties, they are asking to adjust the time to 2026.
From the existing difficulties, along with the words of the project investor, the goal for the 2021-2025 period of 100% of communes having car roads to the commune center will be very difficult to achieve.
Nghe An province has 460 commune-level administrative units (411 communes). Of which, 131 communes belong to region I and region III. Currently, there are only 3 communes including Nhon Mai, Mai Son and Huu Khuong that do not have roads to the commune center, because the road opening project is behind schedule.
Paving the way for people to escape poverty
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