Need a "boost" for transport, trade and tourism

Many "broken" roads have been "inactive" for decades.

Doan Ket Ward was established on the basis of merging 5 communes and wards including: Doan Ket, Quyet Tien, Quyet Thang, Sung Phai and Lan Nhi Thang. The new 2-level urban government model requires a synchronous and modern infrastructure system to meet the development requirements in the new period. However, after the arrangement and merger, many difficulties and inadequacies have been exposed, especially in the field of traffic infrastructure. Many main roads connecting residential groups, especially the Sung Phai and Lan Nhi Thang areas, are still lacking or have not been properly invested. The urban development axis road system is still not completed according to the plan, greatly affecting the ability to connect, transport goods and travel needs. Some roads connecting Doan Ket Ward with Sin Suoi Ho Commune and the highlands of To Y Phin area have not been invested in.

“Witnessing” some of the long-term damaged and degraded roads in the area, we were surprised to see that there were roads that had been damaged for decades and had not been repaired or upgraded, despite the villagers’ continuous comments in many meetings and voter meetings. A typical example is the inter-village road from the Cu Nha La residential group roundabout to Trung Chai residential group.

The inter-village road from the roundabout of Cu Nha La residential group to Trung Chai residential group is severely damaged.

This road has been seriously degraded for more than ten years. At first, there were only small potholes, but the damage has become more widespread, with deep potholes appearing, the road surface is rough, bumpy, and rocky. In the rainy season, water stagnates in large puddles, making it difficult to travel with slippery mud, and motorbikes and bicycles can easily fall. In the dry season, the dust is so thick that just one vehicle passing by will cause people on both sides of the road and other road users to be “inhaled” the dust, seriously affecting their health and daily activities.

Mr. Sung A Chia - Head of Trung Chai Residential Group said: "This road has been degraded for too long, making it very difficult for people to travel, especially the elderly and children. We, the people, hope that the authorities at all levels will soon pay attention and invest in upgrading it to ensure safety and convenience for daily life and production."

According to statistics, currently, the entire ward has up to 12km of degraded roads, of which 7km are in a state of serious damage; nearly 60km of intra-field roads have not been invested in construction, making the transportation of agricultural products and circulation of goods very difficult. This situation directly affects the production and life of the people, especially in remote areas of the ward.

Trade, services and tourism development potential are left untapped.

Over the past years, the trade and service sector in Doan Ket ward has been assessed to have many great advantages. The ward has 2 markets and nearly 2,000 production, trade and service establishments; retail sales of goods and consumer services are estimated at over 1,800 billion VND per year. This is an encouraging figure in the context of the locality still facing many difficulties.

Business establishments in Doan Ket ward have not yet fully exploited their potential strengths. In the photo : Customers shopping at Huong Long Supermarket.

However, the growth rate of the trade and service sector is still not commensurate with its potential. Business activities are mainly small-scale and spontaneous, with limited competitiveness. The connection between production, distribution and circulation of goods is not tight, making the local product consumption market unstable. Export goods grow slowly, and there are no typical products that create their own mark. Infrastructure, especially in densely populated areas and mountainous areas, has not been invested synchronously. Management, exploitation and business organization in markets still have many shortcomings, leading to low operational efficiency, directly affecting people and businesses.

Not to mention that this place has a lot of potential for tourism development associated with natural landscapes, culture and community experiences. However, in reality, local tourism is still at the planning and orientation stage, without any clear breakthroughs. Investment in tourist areas and spots is still limited; infrastructure such as roads to tourist attractions, parking lots, accommodation, restrooms, etc. is both lacking and not of guaranteed quality. Tourism services are still monotonous, mainly small restaurants and hotels, without many cultural products and unique experiences to retain tourists.

Gia Khau 1 community tourism village has many advantages to attract tourists, however, it has not yet received adequate investment.

At Gia Khau 1 community tourism village, many years ago, Lai Chau city (old) paid attention to investing in tourism development: sightseeing, experiencing the life of the villagers and exploring caves. However, up to now, the number of tourists visiting the village is very small, only exceeding the number of people at certain times such as: Festivals, rice harvest season... Sharing about this, Ms. Giang Thi Cha (manager of Gia Khau 1 tourist area) shared: Developing homestays in the village is currently facing many difficulties, mostly due to the limited awareness of the people about community tourism. When I was assigned to be in charge of the tourist area, I also encountered difficulties due to lack of funding and the lack of clear mechanisms and regulations in managing tourism activities here. Therefore, I am currently focusing on developing food services, introducing traditional dishes of the Mong people. This is also a strength and is attracting a stable number of visitors to experience local cuisine . There are customers ordering food almost every day, especially on weekends or when there are tour groups.

Action is needed to break through

Realizing the importance of that, in this term, Doan Ket ward has begun to synchronously deploy many solutions, prioritizing the mobilization, balancing and effective use of resources, especially public investment capital to promote the development of transport infrastructure, trade and tourism in the area.

Comrade Dang Viet Hung - Vice Chairman of Doan Ket Ward People's Committee said: In order to gradually overcome difficulties, promote synchronous development of infrastructure and key economic sectors, Doan Ket Ward determined to increase the mobilization of investment resources, especially from national target programs, socialization and non-budgetary capital to focus on building the main traffic system, inter-residential roads, intra-field traffic and market infrastructure. Promote administrative reform, create favorable conditions for businesses and business households to invest in the fields of trade and services, promote the link between production and product consumption. At the same time, build typical tourism products, organize cultural events and festivals with local identity, connect with tours and tourist routes inside and outside the province to attract tourists.

Preserving traditional culture through cuisine is also a way to attract tourists to visit and experience.

In this term, we believe that important contents and issues such as: maximizing the provincial budget support, integrating with national target programs to invest in solidifying rural traffic routes and intra-field roads to serve production development; coordinating well in attracting investors to invest in building commercial and housing areas in group 8, social housing in group 12; creating favorable conditions to attract investment in projects: Pu Sam Cap National Historical Site; city central market; Quyet Thang market; Gia Khau 1 tourist area...; organizing well the activities: King Le Loi Temple Festival, Grauk Taox Cha Festival, Hau Doong Festival... will be focused on by the ward government.

Developing transport, trade and tourism infrastructure are important pillars to help Doan Ket ward create momentum for sustainable development in the future. It requires the continuous efforts of local authorities, the companionship of businesses and the cooperation of the people to gradually transform potential into driving force, building Doan Ket ward to be more and more spacious, modern and livable.

Source: https://baolaichau.vn/kinh-te/can-cu-huych-cho-giao-thong-thuong-mai-va-du-lich-1186909