National Assembly Delegate of Nghe An Province reflects on shortcomings and inadequacies in new rural construction

On November 4, under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Phung Quoc Hien, the National Assembly continued to discuss in the hall about: socio-economy, state budget, public investment, national finance, economic restructuring, and national target programs.

Discussing the contents of the Government's report and the Verification Report of the National Assembly's Economic Committee presented at the 10th session,National AssemblyRegarding the results of the 5-year implementation of the national target program on new rural construction, delegate Tran Van Mao (Nghe An Delegation) said that the program's implementation is a policy that is in line with the people's wishes and aspirations, and basically achieves the set goals.

"With the high political determination of the Party, State, Central Government and the efforts of local Party committees and authorities, the drastic participation of the entire political system, the efforts and consensus of the people have helped the national target program on new rural construction to be truly successful, with many positive changes, and the face of the countryside is increasingly improving in all fields" - said delegate Tran Van Mao.

Delegate Tran Van Mao speaks at the conference hall. Photo: PV

However, according to delegate Tran Van Mao, there are still limitations: The leadership and direction of the Central Government, ministries, branches, Party committees, authorities and organizations in some localities in the early period were not resolute, the actual participation in implementing the program was slow; the State budget and social resources mobilized for the program were still much lower than the actual needs.

“The integration of other project programs to implement the new rural program has encountered many difficulties and is not very effective; planning work has generally received attention, but the quality of planning management is not high; some localities still owe capital construction debts of the national target program on new rural construction, leading to confusion in allocating resources to repay the debt,” said delegate Tran Van Mao.

The work of assessing and recognizing communes that have met standards is still sometimes patronizing and forced; some criteria are completed but at a low level, with low sustainability, such as culture, education, poor households, health, environment, etc.

Although the set target was achieved and exceeded, there was still a large difference in the results of implementing new rural construction between regions (average 65% in the plains; 25% of communes in the mountainous areas met the standards) and 222 communes were particularly disadvantaged.

The new rural construction movement in Con Cuong always receives the support of the ethnic people in the area. Photo: Ba Hau

Delegates said that there are many objective and subjective reasons for the above-mentioned shortcomings and limitations, mainly due to the fact that we implemented the program during a period of economic recession; global and domestic economic crisis; the Covid-19 pandemic and natural disasters, storms and floods causing severe damage.

Meanwhile, the National Criteria still has many shortcomings; policies to encourage businesses to invest in agriculture and rural areas are slow to be effective; advocacy and propaganda work in some places has not received due attention and has not gone into depth; there is still a mindset of passively waiting for support from the state budget.

From the results, shortcomings and limitations over many years of implementing the national target program on new rural construction, delegate Tran Van Mao recommended to the National Assembly, the Government, central ministries, branches, and Party committees and authorities at all levels in the coming time to deploy a number of solutions to continue implementing it with quality and effectiveness.

Specifically, all levels and sectors need to provide guidance on integrating national target programs, other programs and projects to contribute to new rural construction; provide specific guidance on mobilizing resources from the people to avoid over-mobilizing the people, especially in difficult times like the present.

Along with that, there needs to be specific policies and mechanisms to link vocational training to rural labor; guidance on implementing policies to encourage the development of agricultural production on a farm scale, commodity production, and increase income for rural people; and specific mechanisms for pilot districts in buildingnew rural.

Besides,GovernmentIncrease the level of support for government bond capital; support from the central government for provinces that have not yet balanced their budgets; continue to review and adjust criteria, goals, and decentralization to localities to ensure specificity and local realities; allocate resources in the direction of prioritizing criteria for improving the lives of rural people.

At the same time, direct localities to establish projects and implementation plans, determine appropriate roadmaps and steps, and create breakthroughs in new rural construction. Prioritize and attach importance to agricultural restructuring associated with economic restructuring.

Implement publicity and transparency in allocating central investment resources in accordance with regulations; be practical, flexible, and appropriate, creating motivation for localities to strive to complete the national goal of building new rural areas.