Nghia Thuan commune meets NTM standards: Sustainable construction of criteria

(Baonghean) - Selected by the Steering Committee of Thai Hoa Town as one of the two pilot communes for new rural construction, Nghia Thuan commune initially only met 8 criteria. After 3 years of efforts, Nghia Thuan achieved 19 criteria according to regulations and became the second unit of the Town to reach the new rural finish line with a synchronous and standard infrastructure system, shifting the economic structure in the right direction, suitable to local conditions...

Entering the implementation of new rural construction, Nghia Thuan thoroughly follows the viewpoint of organizing reasonable production, linking agriculture with trade and services, linking rural development with urban areas, preserving cultural identity, ecological environment, and improving people's material and spiritual life.

A corner of the new countryside in Nghia Thuan. Photo: Sy Minh

In the economic field, Nghia Thuan focuses on implementing well the work of land consolidation, crop restructuring, building field production models for high income and economic value such as: vegetable fields, flowers and hybrid rice structure for high productivity accounting for 80% of the total production area as in hamlet 7B. In livestock farming, focusing on semi-industrial and industrial development is focused on investment by the people; currently in the area there are 8 large-scale livestock farms associated with hill garden development. Through the "stimulus" mechanism to support investment in bringing mechanization into agricultural production processes and enhancing transportation services, up to now, in the commune there are 29 plows, 32 threshing machines and 88 cars of all kinds to meet the needs of agricultural production services as well as people's needs.

The industrial, handicraft and commercial service sectors are focused on development. Currently, the commune has 7 construction companies, 200 individual small-scale businesses developing the production of household wooden products, construction materials, etc. The number of workers has also shifted quite strongly with more than 1,400 workers working in industrial parks outside the province, more than 300 workers working abroad. The lives of the people in the area have stable income, improving day by day, 91% of households have standard housing, no longer have households living in temporary, dilapidated houses. The average income per capita in 2014 reached 34 million VND; the poverty rate decreased from 14.5% (in 2010) to 3.7%. The economic structure has shifted in the right direction, from a purely agricultural commune, it has now shifted: Agriculture and forestry 24%; commercial services 39%; industry - basic construction 37%.

The economy has developed stably, and people's material and spiritual lives have been improved. 20/21 hamlets have spacious cultural houses and standard sports grounds. Up to now, Nghia Thuan has 82% of families achieving the title of Cultural Family, and 15/21 hamlets have been recognized as Cultural Villages. The school infrastructure system has been invested in construction, the quality of teaching and learning has been improved, 4/4 schools have been recognized as meeting National standards level I. Primary health care for the people has been taken care of, and investment has been focused on upgrading medical examination and treatment equipment. In 2014, the commune was recognized as meeting National standards level I. Environmental sanitation work has been focused on and implemented seriously. Hamlets far from the commune center have family garbage pits that are self-treated in accordance with environmental protection regulations...

A very important success of Nghia Thuan through the implementation of the National Target Program on New Rural Construction is the construction of synchronous infrastructure to meet new development requirements, serving the cultural needs of the people. The commune mobilized people to contribute 26,741 working days, donated 40,000 m2 of land to open roads, 687 m of solidly built fences, trees and crops with a total value of over 3.6 billion VND to build roads, built 17.5 km of commune roads with a total investment of over 20 billion VND. Built village, hamlet and alley roads with a length of 27 km; 37.7 km of intra-field roads.

The irrigation system serving agricultural production has also been invested in, such as: Upgrading 1 pumping station, renewing 1km of concrete canals, upgrading 5 dams, building ditches and flood drainage culverts... The working headquarters and the village cultural house have also been invested in and upgraded, such as: Renovating the campus and upgrading the headquarters of the Party, government, Fatherland Front and organizations; building 2 new cultural houses... The power grid system has also invested in renovation, installing 3 more voltage reduction stations, upgrading the number of power stations in the commune to 8 stations, upgrading and building 4,300m of REII power lines and the electricity cooperative has invested in an additional 5km of power lines... ensuring safety and quality for people's daily life and production. The total resources for building new rural areas are more than 238.2 billion VND, of which the resources contributed and invested by the people are 129,746 billion VND, accounting for nearly 60% of the total investment capital for the program.

People in hamlet 21, Nghia Thuan commune take care of cucumbers. Photo: Sy Minh

In addition to focusing on economic development and building cultural life at the grassroots level, Nghia Thuan always pays attention to national defense and security work, well implementing military rear policies and policies for people with meritorious services. Effectively launching the movement of the entire people to protect national security, building forces, security teams, and self-management teams in 21 hamlets, thanks to which, for many years in a row, Nghia Thuan commune has not had political instability, prolonged mass complaints, and no hot spots have occurred. People are confident and secure in building the economy, culture and society. The commune has truly promoted the tradition of the People's Armed Forces Hero, in 2013 it achieved the title of "Excellently completing all tasks, leading the patriotic emulation movement" of the province, and was awarded the Emulation Flag of the Government. The Party Committee has been clean and strong for 30 consecutive years, the Fatherland Front and its member organizations including the Farmers' Association, the Women's Union, the Youth Union, and the Veterans' Association have all been classified as having excellently fulfilled their tasks, and social organizations have been given attention, so their activities have been effective, contributing to the good work of mobilizing the masses to join hands in building new rural areas. With such high determination, Nghia Thuan has achieved 19/19 criteria and was recognized by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee as a commune meeting the new rural standards on January 12, 2015.

It can be said that, to achieve such great and proud results, the most important factor is the combination of the Party's will and the people's heart, the good organization and implementation of the grassroots democracy regulations, everything is carried out according to the motto "people know, people discuss, people decide, people do, people supervise". In addition, Nghia Thuan has taken advantage of external resources, investment from superiors, help and support from businesses; especially, it has aroused the people's strength. Nghia Thuan is recognized as a commune that meets the new rural standards today, which does not mean that the task has been completed, but is only a premise and motivation for the Party Committee and people of the commune to continue to strive to improve the criteria better and better, to meet increasingly high development requirements. That is to build Nghia Thuan commune to be more and more civilized and beautiful, the people to be happier and happier, to enjoy better and better social services...

Vo Sy Thong

(Chairman of People's Committee of Nghia Thuan Commune)