Nam Thuong Commune (Nam Dan) strives to reach the NTM finish line ahead of schedule

(Baonghean) - At the time of starting the new rural construction in August 2011, Nam Thuong commune (Nam Dan) had only met 7 criteria; after 4 years of overcoming difficulties, thanks to the spirit of solidarity and high consensus, Nam Thuong reached the new rural finish line ahead of schedule.

To complete the new rural construction, the most difficult thing for Nam Thuong commune is the criteria of traffic, environment and poor households. The Steering Committee of the New Rural Construction Program of the commune has determined the viewpoint of "relying mainly on internal resources, the State plays a guiding and supporting role". With that direction, after 4 years of implementation with great effort and determination, Nam Thuong commune has completed 19/19 new rural criteria.

Accordingly, the commune has mobilized nearly 72,517 million VND in investment. Of which, the socialized capital for housing construction is nearly 32 billion VND; the investment capital for construction of works serving people's lives is 40,517 million VND; solidifying and opening 18 km of rural roads, 4.5 km of village roads, 12.5 km of alley roads; concreting 1 km of intra-field roads and spreading 4 km of graded stone... The results of land conversion and planning of the intra-field traffic system have ensured convenient movement of machinery and equipment.

Kindergarten children at Nam Thuong Kindergarten (Nam Dan) compete in tug of war.

To improve the material and spiritual life of the people and contribute to economic growth, the commune focuses on investing in developing small-scale industries and occupations such as: production services with 8 plows, 5 combine harvesters; aluminum and glass industry with 3 establishments, 12 masonry teams with more than 150 workers, forming a broom purchasing facility... Credit institutions have supported hundreds of households to borrow capital to develop production, export labor, and reduce poverty with billions of VND; especially capital from the people has been mobilized for effective investment in household economic development...

With the above efforts, people's lives have improved, the rate of rich households has increased, and the rate of poor households has decreased rapidly: at the end of 2014, the rate of poor households was up to 14.4%, and by the end of 2015, it had decreased to only 3.7% (in just one year, the rate of poor households decreased by over 11%), and the average income per capita in 2015 reached 25 million VND/person/year.

The secondary and preschool levels have facilities for schools and classrooms, ensuring green, clean, and beautiful campuses, and qualified teachers to ensure teaching and learning with improved quality. The commune has a public internet access point and a telecommunications point, ensuring good service for communication needs, and learning knowledge through the internet to improve people's intellectual level. The commune health station is built spaciously according to the new national health standards; maintaining and improving the quality of medical examination and treatment for the people, gradually implementing standard health programs according to the new set of criteria. Environmental sanitation is gradually improved, the rate of people using clean water and standard sanitation facilities is 100%...

The cultural, artistic and sports movements have developed well. The whole commune has 5/5 standard cultural hamlets, contributing to fundamentally changing the appearance of the countryside and improving the spiritual life of the people. The Party Committee and the commune government have annually achieved the title of "Clean and Strong", in 2014 they achieved the title of "Typical Clean and Strong". The political organizations of the commune have annually achieved advanced status or higher. Coming to Nam Thuong today, it is easy to see the transformation on every village road and alley. The spacious and clean houses with long rows of trees and the electricity system, roads, schools and stations have been invested synchronously.

One of the factors contributing to the success of the new rural construction movement in Nam Thuong commune is the consensus of the people. People have clearly recognized the benefits and effectiveness of the movement, and seen their role as the main subject. All cadres, party members and people have united and made efforts to overcome the state of passivity, waiting and relying on the investment of the State. Specifically, people have joined with the locality to contribute their efforts and money to make the rural area increasingly new, clean and beautiful, with an average of at least 8 million VND per household and the highest household is 15 million VND.

The movement of donating land for rural roads and cultural houses was supported by the people. Wherever roads were opened, people dismantled their structures and donated land for road construction. People also actively participated in implementing production and livestock models such as raising pigs, chickens, buffaloes, cows, etc., growing corn, chili, vegetables, etc., as well as applying scientific and technical advances to production, transforming the structure of crops and livestock towards improving productivity, quality, and increasing economic efficiency.

Experience from the reality of building new rural areas in Nam Thuong shows that the greatest achievement is to arouse the power of people's consensus. Because to have today's results, in addition to the attention of the district and the province, people's consensus is the prerequisite to complete 19/19 criteria 2 years ahead of schedule. During the implementation of the movement, Nam Thuong always promotes people's mastery, all things are known, discussed, done, inspected and people benefit, creating trust for the people. When receiving positive response from the people, everything is smooth and favorable.

Nam Thuong always determines that successfully building a new rural area is difficult, but maintaining the title is even more difficult. Therefore, the commune has built a plan to continue maintaining and improving the criteria that have been met to ensure sustainable and long-term development. The right policy, in line with the people's wishes, along with good and creative ways of doing things, and the great efforts and determination of the Party Committee, the government as well as the efforts of each citizen have made Nam Thuong a commune that other units can learn from. The changing picture of Nam Thuong's countryside and the improvement of people's lives are clear evidence of the harmony between the Party's will and the people's will.

Nguyen Huu Nhi

(Chairman of the Commune People's Committee)