Renewals in Tay Tuu commune

Many households voluntarily donate land to construct and enhance village roads – Photo: VNP

Chairman of Tay Tuu Commune People’s Committee Le Van Viet said “For many years the phrase ‘ideo of the Party and aspiration of the people’ seemed to diverge from reality, but when we embarked on the new countryside construction project, this phrase was really an art of war for us to implement it successfully.” He told us that before the project was devised, Tay Tuu was a poor commune with an economy mainly dependent on the cultivation of flowers and ornamental plants. Its orientations for development were poor and passive. The roads and villages were reviewed in a spontaneous way, causing difficulties for the commune to start the project. However, after the commune’s Party committee and authorities reached a consensus, the starting point of the project was defined.

The chairman continued: “To bring a new face to the agricultural and rural areas, our commune defined that there should be land to build a traffic infrastructure, schools and social welfare projects. For the farmers, the land is their flesh and blood. So dealing with the land issue would not only obstruct the implementation of the project but also bring about a division and conflict in the commune, resulting in the people’s loss of trust.”

When the commune started the project there were objections against it. However, the Project Steering Committee still implemented it, step by step.

Tay Tuu Commune has shifted its agricultural economic structure to improve the living standards of locals – Photo: VNP

Chairman Le Van Viet recalled: “At first, we met the village heads, village party cell secretary and heads of major clans in the commune to learn about the people’s aspirations. A great majority of people had a common desire: expand the schools, roads, irrigation systems and public entertainment areas. Only after learning of their wishes did we popularize the project for each household. The villagers began to learn about 19 criteria of the new rural construction project and most of them said these criteria were in accordance with their wishes.  A few conservative people asked that if they voluntarily donated or exchanged their land, would the commune use it to build the roads and schools, or instead the authorities devise a project to gather the land and divide it into pieces to sell to rich people? Realizing the people’s legitimate concern, the Steering Committee decided to do something to dispel their doubts. The commune and the project sub-committees in the villages held 16 conferences to meet and talk with the villagers. We popularized, explained to and persuaded them, following the motto of going to each lane, knocking on each door and listening to the thoughts and opinions of the people.”

Tay Tuu Commune has a main road with a length of 3.5km and a width of 2.8-3.2m which meets the rural traffic standards. As the road is not suitable for the local economic development the commune has encouraged 132 households to give up a part of their land and has completed the upgrading of 2.8 km of the main road. It is expected that by the end of this year, the commune will complete the upgrading of the entire road as planned.

The schools have also been upgraded and rebuilt to reach the national standards. The transport system and irrigation stations have been improved, facilitating the horticulture of the farmers. Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh Chief of Thuong Village in Tay Tuu Commune said: “The land here is as expensive as gold, but Tay Tuu villagers still voluntarily donated thousands of square meters of their land to build the infrastructure. This shows that the new rural construction project meets the aspirations of the people.”

Now Tay Tuu has to accomplish only one cultural criterion left. In concluding the story about the new rural construction in Tay Tuu, Chairman Le Van Viet said: “Old people say that work which is ten times easy cannot be done without the people, while the work which is a hundred times difficult can be done by the people. Out commune has found a common point between the people’s wish and the new rural construction plan. So, in a short period of time shall we complete 19 criteria on the new rural construction.