Investing in roads for ethnic minorities

The road from National Highway 6 to Song village, Chieng La commune is concreted.

Previously, the more than 3.7 km long road from National Highway 6 to Song village, Chieng La commune was a dirt road, making it difficult to travel. At the end of 2023, from the capital of Program 1719, more than 7 billion VND and Song village households voluntarily donated nearly 4 hectares of land to grow coffee, cassava, and corn, the road was concreted and expanded, facilitating travel and trade of goods for the people.

Mr. Ca Van Tuong, Party cell secretary and head of Song village, said: The village has 90 households of Thai and La Ha ethnic groups living together. Their main income comes from growing coffee, cassava, corn, fruit trees and raising livestock and poultry. Once the road is completed, cars can easily enter the village and go straight to the fields to buy agricultural products for the people, saving a lot of transportation effort.

At the end of 2024, joy came to 76 households, with more than 400 Mong ethnic people in Co Dau village, Nam Ty commune, when the road from Provincial Road 113 to the village, more than 6.8 km long, was invested by the State to be poured with concrete, with a total cost of 13.5 billion VND from Program 1719, helping people to travel conveniently and easily exchange goods with neighboring villages and communes.

Ms. Mua Thi Sua, owner of a grocery store at the entrance of Co Dau village, happily said: Before, the dirt road was steep and slippery during the rainy season, making it very difficult to go to the commune or district to buy goods to sell. Since the new road was built, trucks carrying goods have been able to drop them off at the site; families in the village have built new, spacious houses, with televisions, motorbikes, and electricity for their children to study, and the villagers are very happy.

In the particularly difficult commune of Phieng Cam, there are 34 villages with a population of 14,395 people, including the ethnic groups: Thai, Kinh, Mong, Kho Mu living together. From the capital of the 1719 program, the commune prioritizes investment in building a traffic system connecting villages and regions to serve the daily life and production of the people. From 2023 to now, the commune has invested in building the inter-village road Nong Tau Mong - Nong Nghe - Xa Nghe - Huoi Nha - Phieng Phu A; the road from Chieng Dong commune - to the center of Phieng Cam commune.

Mr. Dang Tien Dung, Chairman of Phieng Cam Commune People's Committee, said: Up to now, 100% of the commune roads have been concreted, ensuring convenient car travel all year round; 62% of the village and inter-village roads have been hardened. This year, the commune continues to be approved to invest in 2 routes from Phieng Phu B village - Xa Liet; Tong Chinh - La Va, 11 km long, with a total cost of over 24 billion VND.

Construction of roads to O and Nong Pha villages, Chieng Khuong commune from capital source of Program 1719.

In the 2021-2025 period, from the capital source of Program 1719, the whole province has invested nearly 1,700 billion VND to repair, upgrade and build 256 new roads in remote, isolated and border communes in the province. Thanks to that, the rural traffic network has been expanded and solidified, creating a solid momentum for implementing the new rural construction program. Up to now, the whole province has 98.53% of communes with asphalt or concrete car roads to the commune center, expected to reach 100% by the end of 2025; 78.3% of villages have solid car roads to the center, exceeding the set target.

Identifying transportation as the lifeline for development and implementation of Program 1719, Son La province continues to direct departments, branches and localities to base on actual needs and the number of registered investments to upgrade roads; focus on site clearance, create all favorable conditions for contractors to speed up the construction progress of traffic works; focus on propaganda, mobilization, promote the pioneering and exemplary role of cadres, party members, village elders, and prestigious people to donate land, contribute working days, money... to build rural roads.

Efforts to invest in and develop transport infrastructure have brought about many positive changes, creating regional and inter-regional connectivity, serving as a "lever" for socio -economic development in ethnic minority areas, contributing to the goal of reducing 4-5% of poor and near-poor households in extremely disadvantaged communes by 2025; 44% of communes in ethnic minority areas meeting new rural standards.

Source: https://baosonla.vn/nong-thon-moi/dau-tu-duong-giao-thong-vung-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-rLPXDHjHg.html