Unlock potential, accelerate growth

(Baonghean) -Comrade Vo Thi Hong Lam - Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Anh Son district gave an interview to Nghe An Newspaper on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the district's establishment (1963-2013)

PV:Could you please tell us about the outstanding achievements of your district in the past 50 years?

Comrade Vo Thi Hong Lam:According to Decision 52/CP dated April 19, 1963 of the Government Council, the old Anh Son district was divided to establish two new districts, Anh Son and Do Luong. Since then, after 50 years of both production and fighting, focusing on overcoming the consequences of war, promoting socio-economic development, national defense, implementing the renovation, integration and development, Anh Son has achieved many outstanding achievements:

Regarding economy: The economic growth rate in recent years has always reached over 11.5%, in 2012 the average income per capita reached over 17.2 million VND, the budget revenue reached over 32 billion VND, the economic structure shifted in the right direction, agriculture - forestry - fishery reached 53.6%, industry - construction accounted for 23.7%, services - trade reached 22.5%, the total food output of the district reached over 59 thousand tons. The district has formed concentrated industrial crop areas including over 1700 hectares of sugarcane, over 2000 hectares of industrial tea, 2000 hectares of rubber. The whole district currently has 10 state-owned enterprises, 47 private enterprises, 14 joint stock companies, 29 limited liability companies, 4 factories producing and processing agricultural products. Dinh Son industrial clusters and towns create jobs for many rural workers. Infrastructure is increasingly invested, meeting development requirements. 100% of communes have car roads to the headquarters. The system of 7 bridges across the river, namely Cay Chanh bridge (Dinh Son), suspension bridge (Ban Bong), bridge over Cau Dat spillway (Thanh Son), Do Rong bridge (Hung Son), Tri Le bridge (Khai Son), bridge over Giang River, town suspension bridge, Duc Son suspension bridge were inaugurated and 2 bridges are under construction: the bridge over Con River and Cay Mit bridge (Binh Son) to be completed by the end of 2013. The key routes of the Town - Cao Veu, Nhan Tai - Gia Giang, inter-commune routes are invested in standardization. Cao Veu - Phuc Son is on the way to be promoted to become a border gate connecting our country to Laos... are important conditions for Anh Son to create a breakthrough in economic - cultural - social development.

In the field of culture and society: The whole district currently has 36/77 schools meeting national standards. Continuously in recent years, the district has been recognized as a district with an excellent educational movement in the province, 100% of commune health stations meet national standards on health, the rate of communes with doctors is over 71%, the population growth rate remains stable at under 1%, the regimes and policies for people with meritorious services are guaranteed promptly and in accordance with regulations. The political situation and the National Defense and Security are guaranteed. In the struggle, construction and national defense, Anh Son district has 29 mothers who were awarded the title of Vietnamese Heroic Mother by the State, over 9,376 medals and orders of various types, 6 Heroes of the People's Armed Forces, and 2 communes of Tuong Son and Phuc Son were honored to be awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces by the Party and the State.

Up to now, the whole district has 21 administrative units, 62 grassroots party organizations with more than 5,500 party members, 100% of villages, hamlets and blocks have party cells. The principle of concentration, direct dialogue and listening to people's opinions is considered a hard target, creating conditions for people to build the Party and build a strong government. Administrative reform, application of science and technology in state management and serving internal operations are highly valued by the District People's Committee, 21 communes and towns have been updated with the Internet, online meetings with the Provincial People's Committee and departments, schools in the whole district have been deployed synchronously...

Leaders of Anh Son province and district visited Khai Hoan - Anh Son Garment and Embroidery Company. Photo: Sy Minh

PV:Could you please tell us about the breakthrough in the district's economic development strategy in recent times?

Comrade Vo Thi Hong Lam:Anh Son has a relatively large natural land area of ​​over 60 thousand hectares, with 21 administrative units, and the population is distributed along both banks of the Lam River. Although it is a mountainous district, Anh Son's traffic system developed quite early. National Highway 7A is 47 km long, connecting Vietnam and Laos, and the 13 km long Ho Chi Minh Road runs through 4 communes: Vinh Son, Lang Son, Khai Son, and Cao Son. The whole district has 3 rivers running through it: Lam River, Con River, and Giang River, of which Lam River is more than 47 km long.

Promoting strengths to accelerate development, the district focuses on the following tasks: Developing areas of food crops, industrial crops, forestry crops, and livestock in the direction of commodity production. Focusing on forming concentrated industrial crop areas.

Actively mobilize resources, increase investment, develop infrastructure, focus on investing in irrigation works to ensure irrigation for over 4,500 hectares of rice and other crops. Prioritize renovating and upgrading the road system, building a bridge system across the river for communication and transportation of goods.

Attracting businesses to invest, expanding the processing of raw materials, construction materials, handicrafts, building industrial zones and clusters such as sewing and embroidery, bricks and tiles, electronics, fine art wood... to create jobs for workers. Building new urban areas.

PV:Could you please tell us about the development orientation of your district?

Comrade Vo Thi Hong Lam:The 19th District Party Congress for the 2010-2015 term determined the development direction of the district as striving to make Anh Son a fairly developed district of the province by 2015. The district set out a number of targets (with a view to 2020):

In the economic field: Anh Son promotes internal strength, takes advantage of external strength to strive for an economic growth rate of 12.6%, total annual production value of 14-15%, average income per capita by 2020 reaching over 72 million VND/person/year, the proportion of industry and construction sectors reaching over 47%, services reaching over 29%, the proportion of agriculture and forestry remaining over 22.7%. The Anh Son-Hoi Son-Phuc Son Town area develops an industrial and commercial belt, new urban areas, and builds a comprehensively developed Cay Chanh Town. Develop a stable sugarcane raw material area of ​​1,500 hectares, plant 2,500 hectares of industrial tea, and over 2,000 hectares of rubber. Successfully build 50% of communes meeting new rural construction standards, and put Cao Veu Sub-border Gate into effective operation.

In the field of culture and society: Strive to reduce the poverty rate to 5% by 2020 according to the new standards, the natural population growth rate to 0.52%, promote comprehensive socialization of education, strive for 50 schools to meet national standards, 100% of schools to be solid, 100% of commune health stations to have doctors, 100% of commune health stations to meet standards, the rate of trained workers to reach 40%, contributing to creating jobs for over 2,000 workers/year, the whole district strives to reach 87% of cultural families, 80% of villages, hamlets, and units to meet cultural standards...

In the field of national defense and security: Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of government apparatus at all levels, enhance the use and management of resources. Strengthen the work of ensuring security and order in border areas, security in special areas, rural areas, build safe and self-governing facilities and clusters, strive to achieve over 92% of comprehensively strong facilities, with no weak facilities.

PV:Thank you comrade!

Luong Mai (Implementation)