Thanh Chuong is determined to surpass its targets for building new rural areas.
Building new rural areas is one of the important goals and targets set by the Thanh Chuong District Party Committee and local authorities for the 2020-2025 term. The district is determined to surpass the term's target by 2025.
Mai Hoa • February 13, 2025
Building new rural areas is one of the important goals and targets set by the Thanh Chuong District Party Committee and local authorities for the 2020-2025 term. The district is determined to surpass the term's target by 2025.
When setting the goal of bringing Thanh Ha commune to the finish line of the new rural development program in the 2020-2025 term, many officials, Party members, and people were hesitant and skeptical, considering it a voluntarist idea, due to the limited infrastructure of village cultural centers, schools, and transportation, while the economic conditions of the people were difficult and the communes were predominantly agricultural.
Comrade Dang Huu Bien - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Committee of Thanh Ha commune, shared: When Thanh Ha commune set the goal of achieving the new rural development status in 2024, the district leaders and each district-level department and agency collaborated in directly surveying the current situation, providing guidance and direction, and creating conditions for resources to help the locality complete each content and criterion. The commune assigned officials and civil servants to be in charge of each content, criterion, and village area to direct the work; in particular, focusing on propaganda and raising awareness among officials and people. Each village concretized each task for each self-governing group, promoting the people's right to self-governance according to the motto "the people know, the people discuss, the people do, the people inspect, and the people benefit," creating consensus among the people and their children living away from home...
Joining hands to build a new rural area, in Thanh Ha commune, some households, such as Mr. Tran Van Duan in Hamlet 2, who is classified as poor, sold their calf for over 10 million VND to contribute to road construction. Similarly, five households in Hamlet 3, in addition to their regular hamlet contributions, independently discussed and each contributed 60-80 million VND to build a concrete road in front of their houses.
A typical example is the family of Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh, who sold a buffalo, borrowed money from relatives and friends, and received support from his children to contribute 80 million VND to build a road, plus over 27 million VND to pave the alley connecting the village road to their house with concrete. Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh said: “The government's support with cement was an opportunity, so my family tried our best to borrow money to build it. Although we haven't paid off all the loans yet, having a beautiful road makes our house look nicer, and especially this Tet holiday, we won't have to deal with muddy conditions when it rains, which is great news.”
Thanks to the concerted efforts of the entire political system, especially the strength of the people's will, with no one standing aside in the construction of new rural areas, by the end of 2024, Thanh Ha commune had completed all 19 criteria and submitted them to the Provincial People's Committee for recognition as a standard new rural commune.
In Hanh Lam commune – the first border commune in the province to achieve the new rural standard (in 2017) – the implementation of the advanced new rural development program received unanimous support from officials, Party members, and the people. However, according to Comrade Dang Huu Hanh, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune: "There are certain difficulties because the 19 criteria for advanced new rural development are different and much more demanding than the 19 criteria for new rural development."
Having clearly identified the difficulties, Hanh Lam commune has developed a plan and roadmap for implementing each criterion in a specific timeframe, decisively directing efforts based on the establishment of steering committees; prioritizing the most difficult criteria first, including transportation, irrigation, cultural infrastructure, and the environment, as a "lever" for the remaining criteria. In particular, the commune focuses on creating jobs and increasing income for the people by facilitating labor export, restructuring crop and livestock production, and developing OCOP products…
Currently, Hanh Lam commune has over 380 workers abroad; expanded tea cultivation area to over 400 hectares; converted some sandy soil areas to commercial green pumpkin cultivation; and has 3 products that have achieved OCOP certification… The average per capita income in 2024 is 62 million VND/year. Hanh Lam commune completed 19 criteria for advanced new rural development in 2024 and is also the first border commune in the province to achieve advanced new rural development standards.
As of the end of 2023, Thanh Chuong district had 29 out of 37 communes meeting the new rural standards, including 5 communes meeting the advanced new rural standards and 1 commune meeting the model new rural standards. In 2024, the district continued to direct an additional 4 communes to meet the new rural standards (bringing the total to 33 out of 37 communes) and 4 communes to meet the advanced new rural standards (bringing the total to 9 communes). This result affirms the outstanding efforts of the entire political system and the people in the mountainous midland district of Thanh Chuong.
Currently, 33 out of 37 communes in Thanh Chuong district have completed the new rural development program, including 9 communes that have completed the advanced new rural development program, and Dung town has achieved the standard of a civilized urban area.
Thanh Chuong district's approach is that the district develops its own roadmap, and each commune develops its own. For communes designated to achieve their targets each year, the district prioritizes investment resources, combining this with efforts to attract businesses and expatriates to support the implementation of challenging criteria such as schools, transportation, irrigation, and cultural facilities; providing an additional 200-500 tons of cement per commune, in addition to the provincial policy.
Communes that are not designated to achieve the new rural development goals are required to complete at least one commune-level criterion and have at least one hamlet achieve the new rural development status within the year. Communes that have already achieved the new rural development status should continue to improve the criteria to build advanced new rural areas; communes that have achieved advanced new rural areas should continue to improve the criteria to build model new rural areas and further enhance the quality of the model for communes that have achieved model status. This creates a deep and widespread movement for building new rural areas throughout the district, reflecting the viewpoint that "building new rural areas has a starting point, but no end point."
Comrade Trinh Van Nha, Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee and Chairman of the Thanh Chuong District People's Committee, stated: Besides the joy of seeing an increase in the number of communes recognized as meeting the standards in the new rural development program, the most important aspect is the significant improvement in the quality of life for the people, both materially and spiritually. This is the core issue and the greatest success of the new rural development program. Along with this, the face of the new rural areas has completely changed, becoming more spacious, civilized, and modern, creating a joyful and enthusiastic atmosphere among cadres, Party members, and the people, as well as those who have left their hometowns and wish to return.
“With this momentum, Thanh Chuong district will continue to direct two communes to achieve new rural standards by early 2025; determined to have a total of 35 out of 37 communes achieving new rural standards by mid-2025; exceeding the target set in the Resolution of the 31st District Party Congress, term 2020-2025, on rural development, which was 31-33 out of 37 communes; striving to make Thanh Chuong a new rural district by the 2025-2030 term,” Comrade Trinh Van Nha added.
