Vinh Phuc (VNA) – The northern province of VinhPhuc has successfully mobilises nearly 12.9 trillion VND (555 million USD atcurrent exchange rate) over the past decade for the building of new-style ruralareas.

The figure was reported at a recent conference to reviewVinh Phuc’s 10-year implementation of the national target programme onnew-style rural building for 2010-2020, which was held by the provincial People’sCommittee.

Of the amount of money, over 7.8 trillion VND (almost 61percent) was sourced from the provincial budget, 25.5 percent from creditsources, 0.78 percent from the State budget, and the remainder came fromcontributions of local communities and other sources.  Local residents have to date donatedthousands of working days to building rural roads and public buildings.

As a result, as of September this year, Vinh Phuc had 109out of its total 112 communes meeting all criteria for new-style rural areas.It is striving to have 100 percent of its commune fulfill the standards by theend of this year.

As results of the 10-year implementation of the programme,1,968 km of rural roads in Vinh Phuc have been cemented, all canals and ditchesrepaired, and more than 300 irrigation facilities such as pumping stations,reservoirs and dams upgraded. Vinh Phuc has also built 2,035 new classrooms forstudents and put into operation 65 out of its 66 planned markets.

Improved rural infrastructure has facilitated themechanization of agricultural production, thereby boosting productivity,promoting the formation of concentrated production areas, and stimulating theproduction of safe and quality products meeting higher demand from consumers.

However, Trinh Thi Binh, head of the Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Office in Song Lo district, highlighted difficulties facing theprovince’s production development and agricultural restructuring, which are twoimportant criteria in the new-style rural area building programme.

According to her, in many localities, farmers have abandonedtheir rice fields for seasonal jobs that offer higher incomes. However, theystill keep their fields rather than leasing them out, just in case outside jobsbecome less stable.

As such, land leasing or accumulation to form concentratedproduction areas is not an easy task, she noted, adding that the work requiresthe participation of scientists and experts in the field.

Speaking at the conference, Chairman of the provincialPeople’s Committee Nguyen Van Tri stated in the coming time Vinh Phuc willcontinue focusing on encouraging the application of technologies inagriculture; effectively mobilizing resources for new-style rural building; andstepping up agricultural restructuring.

In the 2010 – 2020 period, the local authorities havedirected relevant agencies and localities to increase communication campaignsvia diverse activities to boost engagement from residents.

Vinh Phuc plans to set aside some 7 trillion VND (301.3million USD) to carry out the national target programme on building new stylerural area from now to 2025.

The money will be used to construct infrastructure likeroads, power transmission grids, clean water supply systems, schools andmedical stations. Concerted efforts will be made to improve the living qualityof rural residents with poverty rate to be kept under 1 percent and healthcareinsurance coverage rate to be raised to 95 percent.

The National Target Programme on New-style Rural AreaBuilding, initiated by the Government in 2010, sets 19 criteria onsocio-economic development, politics, and defence, aiming to boost ruralregions of Vietnam.

The list of criteria includes the development ofinfrastructure, the improvement of production capacity, environmentalprotection, and the promotion of cultural values.

Last year, the Prime Minister issued criteria for modelnew-style rural commune in 2018 - 2020. There are four groups of criteria thata rural commune should meet in order to earn the title. They include criteriaon production, income and household poverty rate, education, health care andculture, environmental protection, and security-order and public administrativeservice./.