The road to the village during the rainy season.

Việt Nam•11/09/2024

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvXakl0WNl0[/embed]

Dien Bien TV - Every rainy season, people in the highland villages of Dien Bien province struggle with the roads. The village roads, already steep and narrow, become muddy and dangerous when it rains. The dirt roads leading to the highland villages during the rainy season are not only difficult but also pose unforeseen dangers.

The road from the center of Muong Nha commune, Dien Bien district, to Ban village, Hoi Huong village, Khon Ken, and on to Pu Hong commune, Dien Bien Dong district, is about 20km long. While not very long, it's still a dirt road, so it becomes muddy and slippery whenever it rains. Heavy rains lasting for months during the rainy season cause water from small streams on the high hills to overflow onto the road, carrying soil and rocks. The sloping road surface is also eroded by the water, creating large trenches. The more it rains, the more muddy and prone to subsidence the soil becomes. Motorcycles and cars travel on this road daily, leaving long, deep ruts in the road's surface. During the rainy season, traveling on this road is more difficult than walking. Motorcycles have to be pushed along, and cars often get stuck in the trenches and mud after a short distance.

Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong's car got stuck in the mud while traveling from Pu Hong commune, Dien Bien Dong district to Muong Nha commune, Dien Bien district.

Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong, residing in the center of Pu Hong commune, needed to travel to Dien Bien to pick up goods. The Pu Hong - Phinh Giang route was longer and had many landslide-prone sections. The shortcut through Muong Nha commune, Dien Bien district, was shorter but muddy and slippery. Knowing the journey was extremely difficult, he had no choice but to take it. Although it was only 20km, his car and those of several others took 2-3 hours to reach Muong Nha commune. Their vehicle is now stuck in the mud, and he and the other drivers are struggling to find a way out.

Despite being only about 6km from the commune center, Hoi Huong village remains a disadvantaged village in Muong Nha commune. Over 60% of the households in the village are classified as poor or near-poor. One of the reasons for the lack of economic development in Hoi Huong village is the difficult road conditions, especially during the rainy season. The rainy season in Northwest Vietnam lasts 3-4 months, making it difficult for farmers to transport their crops and livestock to market. Traders are also hesitant to enter the village to buy agricultural products during this time. The lives of the villagers are fraught with difficulties due to the extremely poor road conditions, posing many risks to travel.

Slippery, muddy dirt roads are a "specialty" of the rainy season in the remote villages and hamlets of Dien Bien province.

Muong Nha district still has four particularly difficult-to-reach highland villages: Hoi Huong, Khon Ken, Pha Lay, and Pha Thanh, which lack paved roads. During the rainy season, reaching these villages is extremely challenging. Anyone who has ever traveled to these highland villages during the rainy season, navigating treacherous, slippery, and landslide-prone roads, can truly understand the difficulties of the transportation system. Sweating profusely from the hardship, and reluctant to travel due to the poor road conditions, the people, officials, and teachers in these highland areas still struggle with the roads every rainy season for the sake of their livelihoods and work.

Adjacent to Muong Nha commune is Na Tong commune. Na Tong also has four particularly disadvantaged villages that lack paved roads. Hin Phon village is only 4km from the center of Na Tong commune. The road to the village is both steep and narrow. On rainy days, this road becomes muddy and slippery. To travel, the villagers have to find many ways: searching for materials to prop up the road or making their own devices to attach to the wheels so that the vehicles can grip the road and move.
Mr. Mùa A Nếnh is creating a special device to help his motorbike travel on slippery and muddy roads. He has creatively modified an old tire by cutting, nailing, and screwing it in. Mr. Nếnh has experimented and found that, in addition to attaching a chain to the wheel, he can also use old tires nailed to the wheel, helping the motorbike travel safely on muddy and slippery roads.

The motorbike with homemade tires made by Mr. Mua A Nenh from Na Tong commune, Dien Bien district, is quite effective for getting around during the rainy season.

Hin Phon village is not far from the commune center. In recent years, the villagers have received support in the form of various crops and livestock to develop their economy. With ample garden and hillside land, they are quite active in farming and raising livestock, hoping to increase their income. However, roads are very difficult to travel on during the rainy season, severely limiting the transportation of agricultural products from the fields down to the main road and to the commune for sale. The village roads are narrow, steep, and slippery, making travel extremely dangerous during the rainy season. The villagers of Hin Phon still remember a heartbreaking incident that occurred on this road during a rainy season a few years ago.

In recent years, the rural road system in Dien Bien province has been gradually upgraded with investment from state-allocated funds. However, due to the large area, complex terrain, and uneven population distribution, many highland villages still lack roads and electricity. Currently, the province has over 9,600 km of roads, of which over 4,000 km are rural roads. Each year, the province allocates hundreds of billions of VND from the budget and mobilizes the people to contribute to expanding and upgrading rural roads. However, to date, hundreds of village roads in the province still remain unupgraded and unimproved. Most of these roads are located in remote, border areas with complex terrain.

People in the highlands have to risk their lives crossing streams using makeshift rafts, which is extremely dangerous.

Every rainy season, the dirt roads leading to the highland villages collapse, becoming muddy and slippery. In areas where rivers and streams cut across the land, when the water level rises, people have to build rafts to cross. To reach the villages, travelers must navigate difficult and treacherous paths, fraught with danger and risk. Just recently, on September 2nd, a tragic accident occurred in Pu Nhi village, Pu Nhi commune, Dien Bien Dong district: A woman carrying goods on a narrow, winding road, near a landslide, plunged into a deep ravine and died. The investment in wide, safe concrete roads for travel is a fervent wish of the people in the highland villages of Dien Bien.

Minh Giang – Huy Long/DIENBIENTV.VN

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