Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue: 'The Central Government is remiss in not paying much attention to Nam Dan in building new rural areas'

((Baonghean) - Visiting Nghe An on the occasion of the Spring Meeting with Investors in Dinh Dau 2017, senior leaders showed special interest in another issue: New Rural Development.

Recognizing Nghe An's efforts

During a working session with the province and Nam Dan district - a key unit in building new rural areas nationwide, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue assessed that Nghe An is a province with a rather difficult starting point to complete the task of building new rural areas.

The average number of criteria achieved is only 3.64 criteria/commune; resources are limited, the province must receive support from the central budget. The number of communes implementing NTM is up to 431 (after Hanoi and Thanh Hoa province); of which there are 125 communes with special difficulties and 27 border communes with more than 418 km of border.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue and provincial leaders surveyed the planning site to attract investment in the commercial center project of Nam Dan district. Photo: Mai Hoa

After 6 years of implementation, up to now, Nghe An has 152 communes meeting NTM standards, the highest of all provinces and cities in the country; accounting for 35.2% of the total number of communes in the province; the average number of criteria is 13.5 criteria/commune, an increase of 9.86 criteria/commune compared to 2011.

The whole province has no commune that meets less than 5 criteria, while the goal set by the Central Government is to strive for no commune in the whole country to meet less than 5 criteria by 2020. Nghe An also has 2 district-level units that have completed the task of building new rural areas, including Thai Hoa town and Vinh city.

“Nghe An is a pioneer province in building criteria for hamlets, villages, and communes and focusing on building and recognizing hamlets, villages, and communes that have completed the contents of the new rural area in large, difficult mountainous areas; thereby creating motivation and stirring up the movement to build new rural areas in localities.

Immediately after completing the NTM, we paid attention to and thought of a long-term, sustainable solution through piloting the construction of model new rural areas in 3 communes: Son Thanh (Yen Thanh), Kim Lien (Nam Dan) and Quynh Doi (Quynh Luu)..." - The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

Need concern from local and central levels

In terms of the number of communes achieving NTM and the national average criteria, Nghe An is higher. However, compared to the target assigned by the Government to the North Central region and placing Nghe An in the general level of the region, the average NTM criteria of the province is still low, reaching only 13.5 criteria/commune, while the general criteria of the region has reached 13.7 criteria/commune.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue noted: The province has only focused on “hard” targets, which are infrastructure. Innovation in production organization, restructuring of the agricultural sector, and development of the rural economy are still limited. Therefore, the average income index per capita in agriculture is still low, only 22.5% million VND/person/year.

Implementing land consolidation to build new rural areas in Nghia Khanh commune (Nghia Dan). Photo: Document

Comrade Nguyen Sinh Hung - former member of the Politburo, former Chairman of the National Assembly also commented: “The origin of each person is attached to the rice roots and bamboo banks. In the province, 70%, in the district, 80%, in the commune, almost 100% of the population is engaged in agriculture. The new rural area must start from the awareness of each person. Building the new rural area does not require money for everything. There are things that do not require money such as building rural civilization, behavioral culture, speech, loving and close neighbors; environmental sanitation, maintaining security and order..., all must come from the people”.

Emphasizing the viewpoint that building a new rural area must be associated with agricultural restructuring, agricultural and rural mechanization, and the application of high technology, the Deputy Prime Minister said: “Right now, the province and Nam Dan district must proactively take action and have specific plans, projects, and programs to implement production models associated with agricultural restructuring in both directions, applying high technology and reorganizing production in the province and especially Nam Dan district. If high technology is not applied, the added value in agricultural production will be low.”

In order to resolve some immediate difficulties for the province, the Deputy Prime Minister requested the province to direct the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with departments and branches to develop a project and specific mechanisms for 27 border communes to develop socio-economy, including new rural areas; at the same time, assign the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to support Nghe An province in the process of developing the project.

Regarding Nam Dan district, the Deputy Prime Minister frankly admitted the shortcomings of the Central Government in not paying much attention and support to the district when Nam Dan was identified as a key unit for building new rural areas in the country.

In order for Nam Dan to be worthy of its role and especially important political position - the hometown of President Ho Chi Minh, where the Kim Lien Relic Site is a special national relic, the Deputy Prime Minister affirmed: The Central Government will pay attention to supporting Nam Dan in terms of mechanisms, policies, and resources; including attracting businesses to invest in projects as well as investing in works and infrastructure. At the same time, it is required that the construction of new rural areas in Nam Dan must be placed in the overall socio-economic development of the district; especially the connection between high-tech agriculture and tourism.

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