Nghi Trung (Nghi Loc): Achieved 12 out of 19 criteria for building new rural areas.
(Baonghean.vn) -Selected as one of the three pilot communes in Nghi Loc district, Nghi Trung commune embraced the new rural development program. From Party members and officials to the people, everyone understood that this was a people-centered initiative, discussed by the people, implemented by the people, and benefiting the people. Along with disseminating the program's guidelines and regulations to the people, the Party Committee and the commune government, through the New Rural Development Steering Committee, developed an implementation roadmap.
After nearly two years of implementation, Nghi Trung commune has completed 12 out of 19 criteria for New Rural Development. Notably, the commune has completed several criteria ahead of schedule that many localities consider difficult to achieve, such as criteria related to rural housing, income, healthcare, and labor structure. The locality has successfully leveraged its advantages in trade and proximity to urban areas (towards the south).
Furthermore, to improve the lives and incomes of the people, the commune has implemented and provided support to help people introduce various models to their land, such as high-income farming models, model fields for construction, models for breeding and restoring new peanut varieties, and support for livestock farming models; developing the Dong Thuan rice flake making village; and encouraging people to strongly develop models for growing flowers and ornamental plants, as well as other service and trading activities.
The inter-village road through Hamlet 8 is a New Rural Development project funded by the people's efforts.
Furthermore, recognizing the limited direct investment capital for the New Rural Development program, the commune proactively integrated and utilized funding from provincial and district programs to build infrastructure according to the New Rural Development criteria. In just two years, the commune mobilized and invested in several key projects totaling 30.9 billion VND, including 27.82 billion VND from higher-level budgets, 1.57 billion VND from the commune budget, and the remainder from contributions of money and labor from the people. This included the construction of irrigation canals; inter-commune and inter-village roads; village cultural houses, health station offices, and the upgrading of the electricity network. All 36 km of inter-village roads in the commune have been paved with asphalt and concrete. Most notably, Hamlet 8, a predominantly Catholic hamlet, mobilized its residents to build village roads and construct several roads connecting the hamlet to the fields to support agricultural production, improve farmland, and facilitate land consolidation.
Mr. Phan The Hung, Chairman of the Nghi Trung Commune People's Committee, stated that the commune's progress in building new rural areas is promising and encouraging, but there are still many concerns. According to regulations, each commune needs approximately 200 billion VND to complete infrastructure projects, but almost no investment from the new rural area program has been made. In the past two years, the commune only received 615 million VND in budget support for the construction of the commune's kindergarten, while the total investment for the project is 4 billion VND. To implement the new rural area program, a commune where one-third of the population are Catholic, not to mention the contributions from hamlets, the commune mobilizes an average of 1.3 billion VND annually to support hamlet-level projects (the commune usually provides 50%). In reality, although not officially statistically recorded, the contribution from the people and local support accounts for 60-70% of the value of new rural area projects in the commune, which is a paradox.
The commune's kindergarten is one of the criteria for New Rural Development that the commune is currently investing in and constructing.
Therefore, according to Mr. Hung, achieving all 19 criteria by 2015 is very difficult, if not impossible. That's why, at the conference summarizing the first two years of the New Rural Development program, the commune's People's Committee proposed that the central, provincial, and district levels prioritize funding support for the selected pilot communes to gradually complete the national set of indicators for New Rural Development; and at the same time, allow the locality to proceed with the construction of some urgent projects using local funds so that the commune can meet the standards by 2015.
The difficulties in building new rural areas in Nghi Trung are not only due to investment capital but also to the current state of population distribution. Currently, despite being an area near the urban center, the commune's population is scattered, and the cemeteries are not concentrated (each hamlet has its own cemetery). Rearranging them according to the new rural area plan is not easy!
According to the set roadmap, from now until 2015, the commune must implement 7 criteria: safe electricity, culture, cultural infrastructure, forms of production organization, transportation, irrigation, and environment. Initially, in 2013, in accordance with Directive 08 of the Provincial Party Committee, the commune is focusing on directing the second phase of land consolidation and exchange. Currently, the commune has held meetings with 2 out of 18 hamlets to disseminate information and encourage land consolidation and field rearrangement. After the land consolidation and exchange is completed, the commune will advise on surveying and reissuing land use right certificates for agricultural land to households.
Nguyen Hai
