On March 7, in the mountainous commune of Tra My (Da Nang City), candidates for the 16th National Assembly of constituency No. 5 continued the election campaign program, meeting with local voters.
In the exchange with voters, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the Fatherland Front, central mass organizations, Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor - recalled a detail from the online voter contact conference connecting 18 bridge points, which took place on the evening of March 6, which made him particularly think.
According to Mr. Tuan, while bridge points in the delta area are conveniently connected online, in some mountainous communes such as Tra Tap, Tra Linh, due to limited telecommunications infrastructure conditions, voters have to use personal phones to connect and convey opinions to the central bridge point.
When I heard that story, I was really worried" - Mr. Tuan shared with voters.
According to him, that small detail clearly reflects the infrastructure gap between mountainous and delta areas. In the context of strong digital transformation, the fact that some localities still face difficulties in internet connection shows that mountainous infrastructure has not been synchronously invested.
From transportation and telecommunications to essential public services, mountainous areas need to be given more attention so that people are not left behind in the development process," Mr. Tuan said.
He also believes that mountainous development must be associated with exploiting indigenous advantages. Precious products such as Ngoc Linh ginseng, forest medicinal herbs, and endemic agricultural products, if invested methodically, can become a driving force for economic development for the locality.
Mountainous economic development needs to be based on natural advantages, while linked to forest protection and improving the value of indigenous products" - Mr. Tuan said.
Besides economy, Mr. Tuan emphasized that preserving the cultural identity of ethnic minorities is also an important task. According to him, traditional festivals, languages, customs and community cultural life are the "soul" of the mountainous region.
Development must go hand in hand with preserving culture, so that traditional values continue to be preserved and promoted," Mr. Tuan said.
At the meeting, many voters also raised specific issues related to people's lives.
Mr. Huynh Tan Sam, former Secretary of the Bac Tra My District Party Committee (former Quang Nam), expressed concern about health care for people in mountainous areas after implementing administrative unit arrangement.
According to Mr. Sam, previously district-level health centers undertook many medical examination and treatment functions, but after rearrangement, some services were transferred to commune health stations. However, current health stations are still limited in personnel and equipment, making it difficult to meet the increasing medical examination and treatment needs of the people.
The commune health station is currently very overloaded, many equipment are lacking, so taking care of people's health faces many difficulties," Mr. Sam said and wished the State to continue to pay attention to investing in the mountainous health system.
Mr. Sam also mentioned the policy of supporting housing construction for people in mountainous areas. According to him, this is a very humane policy, showing the State's concern for people in difficult areas.
However, with the remote mountainous terrain, difficult transportation, and very high transportation costs of construction materials, the current support level (60 million VND for people with meritorious services and 40 million VND for poor households) is difficult to be enough to build a solid new house.
“The cost of transporting materials to the highlands alone sometimes costs tens of millions of VND. Therefore, if there is no additional support or adjustment of funding, it will be very difficult for people to complete their houses,” Mr. Sam shared.
Listening to these opinions, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan said that these are all very practical issues, directly related to the lives of mountainous people.
He affirmed that if he is trusted by voters to be elected as a National Assembly deputy, he and the candidates will make efforts to fully reflect the voters' recommendations to the National Assembly, and at the same time participate in building appropriate policies to promote mountainous development and improve people's lives.
Stories like voters having to use phones to connect in online conferences or difficulties in building houses in mountainous areas are all very specific issues. But from those specific things, we clearly see the responsibility to continue investing, narrowing the gap between regions" - Mr. Tuan said.
