Mobilizing people to build new rural areas in Nghia Hung (Nghia Dan)

(Baonghean) -Entering the implementation of the National Target Program on New Rural Construction (NTM), Nghia Hung commune (Nghia Dan) faces many challenges and difficulties.

Comrade Phan Phuc Vinh - Chairman of Nghia Hung Commune People's Committee said: "Through initial assessment, in 2011, the commune only achieved 7-8 criteria, in which the most serious were the criteria on facilities, roads, culture and schools, which required large resources but were still far from the criteria. Therefore, at that time, the commune issued a Resolution on building new rural areas in the period of 2015 - 2020, determining to implement step by step, striving to reach the new rural target by 2018".

The commune has actively implemented the criteria according to the plan. Along with the establishment of the Steering Committee, the Management Board for the implementation of the National Target Program on New Rural Construction and the Community Development Board for New Rural Construction in hamlets to propagate and mobilize people to join hands in building the New Rural Construction. Next, the local government coordinated with organizations and unions to link each organization of the political system with specific groups of criteria.

Thanks to proactive propaganda and good implementation of the coordination program, the locality has created changes and positive effects among the people regarding the goal of building a new rural area. In 4 years, the commune has successively consolidated and completed 8 criteria and by the end of 2015, it had achieved 14/19 criteria.

Residents of Hamlet 15 participate in building inter-hamlet roads. Photo: Nguyen Hai

However, the commune's biggest difficulty is still 5 criteria, of which the most serious is the education criterion when there is no school that meets the standards; there are many roads but they are seriously degraded; cultural institutions in the commune center and hamlets are still lacking and unfinished. Besides taking advantage of support policies from higher levels, the commune identifies the support of the people as the most decisive factor.

Despite the difficulties, Nghia Hung also identified this as a great opportunity to upgrade infrastructure and reach the NTM finish line. Based on the assessment of resources and the application and integration of project programs and support from higher levels, the Steering Committee for NTM construction continued to meet to discuss and collect opinions from Party members and people to issue a new thematic Resolution, determine the determination and register with the province to reach the NTM finish line in 2016.

With timely support and encouragement from the province and district, and the joint support of the people, the entire political system of the commune joined hands with the people to implement the criteria. Starting a new peak period, the commune chose the breakthrough implementation to focus on investing in schools to meet national standards. At the same time, the commune urgently implemented rural traffic, repaired and upgraded synchronous cultural facilities, and implemented solutions to increase income for the people.

Thanks to the reasonable implementation and skillful mobilization of people's strength, in less than 2 years, Nghia Hung has mobilized nearly 20 billion VND to build 35.5 km of concrete roads and 40.9 km of mixed roads and intra-field roads; on average, each household contributed 500,000 VND, but people contributed double or triple the amount... Although the construction volume was quite large, in just 2 years, the commune completed 80% of the concrete or hardened roads. Nghia Hung has become the commune with the most concrete roads and cement support in the district, with over 3,000 tons.

Besides transportation and irrigation, thanks to the investment attention of the State, in 2015, the Secondary School met national standards and in the 2016-2017 school year, the Primary School met national standards.

Today, coming to Nghia Hung commune, we not only witness the village roads being concreted and hardened to meet standards, but also the face of the commune center has been transformed. The commune's office and the commune's central stadium have been renovated to be more spacious and beautiful, and children are studying in increasingly spacious and beautiful schools.

A corner of the new rural area of ​​Nghia Hung commune, Nghia Dan. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Comrade Phan Phuc Vinh - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee excitedly shared more: Among the criteria that the commune has achieved, the criteria for schools, healthcare, cultural facilities and transportation bring the most satisfaction and peace of mind because it brings practical and direct benefits to the people. As a purely agricultural commune, Nghia Hung started building a new rural area when the average income per capita in 2011 was only about 12 million VND, the poverty rate was 18.4%; transportation was difficult, in the rainy season 2/3 of the population was isolated; 4 out of 15 hamlets and villages were ethnic minorities with special difficulties... However, after just over 5 years, the average per capita has nearly doubled, the poverty rate has only decreased to 6.67%; 11/15 hamlets were recognized as Cultural Villages; along with the concreting of roads, 2 spillways in the area will also be built.

To increase people's income, in addition to the mechanisms, incentives and support of the province, district and commune, Nghia Hung people boldly borrowed tens of billions of dong from credit institutions to invest in production models; develop secondary industries. Talking about production models in Nghia Hung, we cannot fail to mention the "Lang Gang sugarcane pressing and molasses processing village" which has created regular jobs for over 1,000 workers at the end of the year. Thanks to the sugarcane pressing and molasses processing profession, sugarcane in Nghia Hung always reaches its maximum value.

Saying goodbye to us, comrade Phan Phuc Vinh continued to affirm: Nghia Hung commune basically completed the task of reaching the NTM finish line in 2016 thanks to the people's strength and by the people's strength. Without the people's consensus and support, no matter how determined the commune's Party Committee and government are, it will be difficult to reach the NTM finish line on time. Within 5 years, the commune directly invested nearly 90 billion VND in the NTM, the people contributed 65.5 billion VND, accounting for 74.3%. In the coming time, along with continuing to have solutions to create jobs and increase income for the people, Nghia Hung hopes to continue to receive the attention, support and sharing of the district and province in terms of mechanisms and policies so that the commune not only maintains but also continues to improve the quality of the criteria.

Nguyen Hai