Asphalt road no longer asphalt
Near Tet, the more than 15km long road connecting Huong Tan commune to the center of Huong Linh commune has been seriously degraded and damaged. There are sections with deep holes appearing right on the road surface, very dangerous, some sections have disappeared the asphalt concrete layer, leaving only gravel and soil, some sections are holes full of mud and water. The road is damaged but it is the only way, people have no choice, so they still have to travel through here every day and face many dangers.
Mr. Ho Pa To (residing in Miet Pa Cong village, Huong Linh commune) said that for the past 3 years, people have had to live with a damaged road. “At night, there is no electricity on the road, so it is easy to fall into a hole. When it rains, it is muddy, when it is sunny, it is dusty. It takes an hour to get to the center, about 10km, very difficult,” said Mr. Ho Pa To.
According to the People's Committee of Huong Linh Commune, since 2020, when wind power projects in Huong Linh Commune were massively deployed, the road has been subjected to many heavy trucks passing through every day, so it has begun to be severely damaged. At the end of 2020, complicated floods and rains have further degraded the road. People have continuously petitioned, and the locality has also requested higher authorities, but it has not been repaired for several years. Currently, the road section through Hoong Moi village and Miet Pa Cong village is the most severely degraded.
The damaged road makes it difficult for private vehicles to move, especially low-chassis cars that are almost unable to move because the road surface is too rough. Students and teachers also have a hard time traveling, while the new year is approaching.
Use ADB loan to repair road
Mr. Tran Binh Thuan - Chairman of Huong Hoa District People's Committee said that Huong Linh commune has many large-scale wind power plants and pig farms that have come into operation. When constructing wind power projects, it is necessary to use super-long and super-heavy vehicles, so the locality has required the projects to commit to repairing the roads if any damage occurs.
Starting from June 2023, the People's Committee of Huong Hoa district has requested 5 wind power companies (Tan Hoan Cau Corporation Joint Stock Company; Huong Linh 3, 4 Wind Power Joint Stock Company; Huong Linh 7, 8 Wind Power Joint Stock Company; Huong Hiep 1 Wind Power Joint Stock Company; GELEX Quang Tri Energy Joint Stock Company) and 2 livestock farms to pay attention to supporting and joining hands with the authorities to fix the damaged points on the Huong Tan - Huong Linh road.
However, only Huong Linh 7 and 8 Wind Power Joint Stock Company agreed to support part of the funding as proposed by the Huong Hoa District People's Committee to temporarily upgrade the road; Tan Hoan Cau Corporation Joint Stock Company only agreed to support 50 million VND because the construction process of the wind power project mostly used another road. Because the related wind power projects were not unified and also did not have enough funding, the road to Huong Linh commune has not been repaired.
Mr. Ha Sy Dong - Acting Chairman of Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee said that due to the severe deterioration of the road leading to Huong Linh commune, Quang Tri province has just approved the sub-project "Upgrading and renovating the inter-commune road Huong Tan - Huong Linh".
This sub-project belongs to the project “Basic infrastructure for comprehensive development of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces - Quang Tri province sub-project”. The total investment capital of the project is nearly 87 billion VND with ADB loan capital and counterpart capital; the scale of the project is to upgrade and renovate roads with a total length of 15.8km. Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee assigned the Quang Tri Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board to be the project investor, and set the progress until September 30, 2025.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh - Director of the Quang Tri Province Construction Investment Project Management Board informed that the unit is completing the procedures, so that construction of the project will start around April 2025. "We are speeding up the completion of the procedures, trying to start construction in April so that by the end of September 2025, it will be handed over and put into use" - Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh said.
