(VOVworld) – Situated in Lao Bao Town, Quang Tri Province, Ka Tăng Resettlement Area is home to 51 households with 200 Vân Kiều people the minority nationality. This is considered a model resettlement hamlet in Quang Trị thanks to its improved infrastructure and the high degree of consensus among villagers on their relocation to new residential site. 

Ka Tăng is considered a model resettlement area in Quảng Trị province.

Leading us to visit rows of new houses in the Ka Tăng Resettlement Area, Pả Dừa, patriarch  of Ka Tăng hamlet in Lao Bảo Town, Quảng Trị Province, said more than 50 households live together at the foot of Ka Tăng Mountain.

Two years ago villagers were afraid of moving there to live and do business. But the hamlet has now been made more beautiful and spacious and looks like it could be in a major city. This reassures the locals about settling down there.

Pả Dừa said “Since we moved here, we’ve received more attention from the Party and State as regards roads, power and medical clinics. Our houses are big. We mainly live by growing bananas, cassavas and doing afforestation. Our living standards have much improved a great deal.”

Pả Dừa said every household in the hamlet raise at least a dozen goats, and hundreds of poultry and pigs. Vegetables of various kinds are planted and taken care of naturally.

In the past, Pả Dừa and other Ka Tăng villagers never thought of building houses. Now in the resettlement area, they live in spacious and clean houses and grow their own food. Their children can attend school and are looked after carefully.

A corner of Ka Tăng resettlement hamlet.

Previously, the Ka Tăng people lived along the Lao Bảo International Border Crossing. In 2013, they were moved to the resettlement area at the foot of Ka Tăng Mountain as part of a project to build and develop the Lao Bảo Special Trade and Economic Zone. The Lao Bảo Town People’s Committee agreed to let the locals choose the sites for the construction of their houses in accordance with their needs and customs. In accordance with these criteria, three types of houses have been built. Funding is allocated depending on the number of people in the family.

Lê Bá Hùng, Deputy Chairman of the Lao Bảo Town People’s Committee, said it’s important to pay attention to the most minute details when building the traditional Van Kieu “houses on stilts”. Window should be high and wide. Window banisters should be high enough that people can lean their elbows on it to look out over the road. Villagers are quite satisfied with living in a place where the houses are built to meet their expectations.

According to Hùng, “since the people moved to live in the new resettlement area, their life has gradually stabilized; their production has improved. In addition to economic development, the people of Ka Tănghave proactively joined other people in Lao Bao Town to defend the national border.”

Ka TăngResettlement Area has been considered a model hamlet in Quảng Trị Province thanks to its good location and improved infrastructure, ensuring the development of production, study and cultural activities for the locals.

Located close to the Vietnam-Laos border, Ka Tăng hamlet has established sisterhood with Laos’s Densavan Hamlet. The peoples of the two hamlets have conducted regular exchanges, jointly protected border security and preserved the sovereign landmarks of both countries. 

The road leading to Ka Tăng resettlement hamlet.

Captain Hồ Lê Luận, vice commissar of the Border Station of the Lao Bảo International Border Gate, said “the sisterhood of the two border hamlets has enhanced the awareness of people in the border areas and increased the exchange of commodities. Moreover, through such coordination, the management and protection of border sovereignty and security have been tightened.”

Luận said living conditions for the people of Ka Tăng have improved a great deal. Everybody has jobs with stable incomes and spacious accommodation. Public order has been secured. Children can go to school.