"Ensuring sustainability in the construction of new rural areas"

(Baonghean)Working in Son Thanh commune (Yen Thanh district), the Provincial Party Secretary and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Ho Duc Phoc, and the provincial delegation inspected the criteria for building new rural areas achieved there and were pleased with the results, noting that Son Thanh has met all the criteria to date. However, the Provincial Party Secretary and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee emphasized that the construction of new rural areas must ensure the sustainability of the criteria already achieved…

After two years of implementing the National Target Program on New Rural Development, Son Thanh commune has truly undergone remarkable changes with its transportation system and newly constructed infrastructure. Along the inter-hamlet roads, many multi-story houses have sprung up.

Stopping at Hamlet 18 (Nguyen Hue Village) and Yen Due Village Bridge, where the people are mobilizing maximum manpower and machinery to complete the construction of rural road and bridge infrastructure, the Provincial Party Secretary and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee were very pleased because the people, both Catholic and non-Catholic, here are very united and wholeheartedly contribute their labor and resources for a common goal. This is even more evident when the first concrete pillars of the Yen Due Bridge, "the bridge of national unity," were poured. The bridge was built from the community spirit of more than 200 households in Hamlets 14 and 15. Implementing the resolution of the inter-branch Party committee, the hamlets resolved to eliminate the makeshift bridge and the haunting traffic safety concerns associated with it. Each household contributed 1,000,000 VND, and 20 Party members in the inter-branch Party committee truly took the lead by contributing 2,000,000 VND each in addition to their common duty… The people contributed nearly 1.1 billion VND, accounting for more than 80% of the estimated cost of building the bridge.

Visiting and encouraging households in Nguyen Hue hamlet who are currently working on road construction.
countryside.

A decisive factor in the new rural development efforts in Son Thanh is the role of the Party committee and the political system. In fact, at the time of implementing Decision 800/QD-TTg on new rural development nearly 10 years prior, Son Thanh had already begun its new rural development program with a determination to implement 10 contents of the "Emulation in building the homeland" campaign. Therefore, if we consider the time of implementation of the new rural development program according to the 19 criteria, Son Thanh had already achieved 13 criteria. And two years later, the commune achieved the remaining 5 criteria. Thus, Son Thanh is currently the only commune in the province to have achieved the new rural development goal, becoming the first commune to achieve 18 out of 19 criteria (missing the market criterion). Nguyen Tri Hoa, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Council of Son Thanh commune, reported to the Provincial Party Secretary, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, and the delegation on the lessons learned from the experience in Son Thanh, which included doing a good job of propaganda and ideological work to help people understand the true nature of the program; achieving consensus within the Party and among the people; and knowing how to choose key areas for breakthroughs…

In fact, in Son Thanh commune, thanks to the unity and consensus among the people and the boldness and high determination of the Party committee and the government, the commune has mobilized resources to invest more than 420 billion VND in rural infrastructure construction, including 350 billion VND invested in the period 2000-2010 and 75 billion VND mobilized for infrastructure construction in the two years 2010-2012. The concern raised by the Provincial Party Secretary and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee is the sustainability of new rural development in this area.

According to Son Thanh's report, the average economic growth rate reached 16.5%, per capita income reached 23 million VND/person/year, and the poverty rate was only 4.1% according to the new criteria. However, a deeper analysis reveals that foreign currency brought back by children working abroad still plays a significant role in generating production value and average per capita income. The commune has 1,743 workers employed in Eastern European countries, annually bringing back over 200 billion VND in foreign currency to develop the homeland. Nevertheless, the commune is still struggling to utilize this foreign investment to stimulate economic development and create increasing added value within its own territory. The commune and its people have yet to develop a plan for using this capital to invest in production development and create a sustainable foundation for increasing per capita income.

Visiting the Son Thanh Non-fired Building Materials Factory, an enterprise that was once a shining example not only in Son Thanh commune but also in Yen Thanh district in attracting investment, Comrade Ho Duc Phoc praised the enterprise's efforts and its boldness in investing in new technologies, while also sharing his understanding of the enterprise's market difficulties. He noted that the production of non-fired building materials is a very new field, in line with social trends, and the difficulties in product consumption faced by the factory are also a common problem throughout the province. Therefore, provincial, district, and commune-level departments must take responsibility for supporting the enterprise in introducing and promoting the new technology and the superiority of the products so that people are aware of and can use them. When people trust and use new products, new businesses develop, effectively solving the problem of local employment. The effective investment at the Son Thanh Non-fired Building Materials Factory creates momentum to stimulate other production facilities to invest and develop, creating favorable conditions for fulfilling the criteria of the new rural development program.

The Provincial Party Secretary and the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee genuinely care about the criterion of increasing people's income by making them rich on their own land. They reiterated that Son Thanh must use the foreign currency sent back annually by nearly 2,000 young people working abroad to invest in sustainable economic development. This includes investing in factories and production facilities, creating value for products bearing the Son Thanh brand, generating jobs, increasing income, transforming the economic structure and occupational structure, and laying the foundation for young people returning from working abroad to continue making their homeland rich. Currently, Son Thanh lacks a market, and the Provincial Party Secretary and the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee have advised the commune to focus on planning a market to develop commercial services in general, creating momentum and stimulating production development. It is necessary to invest in building a commercial and service system tailored to local characteristics, such as financial and banking services, telecommunications services, shopping centers, and supermarkets on a scale appropriate to the nature of the local economy…

Huu Nghia