Nam Dan and the pressure to reach the NTM finish line

(Baonghean) - In 2017, Nam Dan registered to build a district that meets new rural standards (NTM). Currently, the pressure to reach the finish line by the end of this year is quite difficult.

Concerns at the grassroots level

When it was determined to build a new rural district, Nam Dan faced many difficulties. Currently, the district has 5 communes that have not met the NTM standards: Khanh Son, Nam Tan, Xuan Lam, Nam Linh and Nam Phuc and must direct these communes to continue to complete the criteria to meet the NTM standards, no later than the third quarter of 2017 for higher authorities to appraise. Communes that have been recognized as meeting the NTM standards must also review the contents and criteria to develop plans for each hamlet, propose specific solutions to ensure the contents and criteria according to regulations, and improve the quality of the achieved criteria.

New rural concrete road in Xuan Lam commune (Nam Dan). Photo: Chau Lan

We returned to Xuan Lam commune while there was quite a lot of work here with the pressure of the deadline for the NTM program approaching. The commune is purely agricultural, the terrain is spread out, the alleys are still muddy in the summer due to stagnation. There is so much work to do for a commune that is still struggling economically...

Chairman of Xuan Lam Commune People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Thac Duong said: Currently, the commune has met 15 criteria according to the new set of criteria, however, there are still 4 criteria that have not been met: traffic, schools, cultural facilities, political system and access to law. In addition, some criteria have been met but are not sustainable; for example, the criteria for green, clean, beautiful environment, national defense - security.

Another difficulty is that the criteria for the political system and the cultural houses in the hamlets have not met the standards. The commune stadium has also just been planned and has not been built yet. The investment for the stadium is estimated to cost about 2.5 billion VND, but the budget is not enough. Regarding irrigation, Xuan Lam commune still has difficulties with water and needs to concretize the 1.2 km long canal from the irrigation canal of Xuan Lam 1 main station with a total budget of 1.8 billion VND, but the problem is still the budget. Faced with these difficulties, Xuan Lam commune requested the Provincial People's Committee to soon arrange capital as well as support more cement for hamlets to build roads. On the other hand, the commune will resolutely implement the missing criteria.

In Nam Phuc commune - a disadvantaged commune of Nam Dan district, up to now, 15/19 criteria have been met, but 4 criteria have not been met: traffic, poor households, schools, and production organization. These are also the core criteria of the current NTM. Chairman of the commune People's Committee, Mr. Phan Van Khanh said: In early 2017, the poverty rate in Nam Phuc commune was 6.5%, at the end of the third quarter of 2017, the commune was determined to review and reduce this rate to 5%. Up to now, the commune has established an agricultural cooperative, but the efficiency is not high, besides, traffic has only reached 65.1%. To achieve the goal of reaching the NTM finish line, the entire political system in the area has strengthened management, direction, and program implementation in all fields, grasped the situation, and removed difficulties at the grassroots level.

In Nam Linh commune, the emulation situation to reach the NTM target is better. Health insurance and cultural institutions have not been achieved while other criteria have been basically achieved. In the first 5 months of 2017, the commune has built 5 km of concrete road with 1,130 tons of cement, and traffic in hamlets has basically met the standards. The primary school is under construction. In the first 5 months of the year, 10 hamlets have completed upgrading cultural houses, building campuses, and investing in infrastructure.

The commune is looking forward to completing the main road in the commune managed by the district. Talking about traffic construction, the head of Hamlet 12, Nam Linh Commune - Mr. Nguyen Van Son said: In addition to repairing and upgrading the cultural house, the hamlet also mobilized 450,000 VND per person to complete the concrete road in the hamlet.

Growing Korean yellow melons in Nam Xuan commune (Nam Dan). Photo: Chau Lan

Time pressure

In the construction of new rural areas in Nam Dan, there are still many communes that only focus on building rural roads, not paying attention to environmental sanitation, rural landscape improvement, and economic development. Regarding the criteria for production organization, the district's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has directly worked and guided all 5 communes, but up to now, there are still 2 communes that do not have a development model (Nam Linh, Nam Tan); 1 commune has not yet completed the cooperatives according to the 2012 Cooperative Law (Xuan Lam); 1 commune has not yet established a new cooperative (Nam Linh). In addition to the communes that have not yet reached the new rural target, the communes that have reached the target also need to improve the quality of the criteria according to the new standards.

With the attention and support of superiors, together with the sectors, the district is focusing on directing to meet the criteria of the new rural district. Regarding production, Nam Dan has directed the communes to implement the chain linkage model, including: Lac TK10 in Khanh Son commune linked with the Institute of Agriculture; Thien Uu 8 rice variety in Xuan Hoa, Nam Phuc, Nam Kim, Xuan Lam communes linked with the Central Seed Company 1; Nam Xuan Xanh Cooperative is implementing a safe vegetable production model. Directing Xuan Hoa commune to establish a safe vegetable production cooperative in hamlet 8...

Commenting on the construction of the new rural area in Nam Dan, Mr. Nguyen Van Hang - Deputy Head of the Provincial New Rural Area Coordination Office added: There are many subjective and objective reasons, however, to reach the finish line of the new rural area with the requirement of no outstanding debts, having cooperatives, cooperatives with a chain linked to enterprises to provide output for farmers, the commune has entertainment spots for children and the elderly, the criteria for building a political system with a clean and strong Party Committee, the criteria for standard transportation... requires great efforts from Nam Dan district, as well as timely attention and solutions from superiors.

Chau Lan