Deputy PM urges quicker institution building for rural development

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has urged ministries to accelerate the building of institutions for the national target program on building new-style rural areas as the current pace has yet to meet the demand.

Hue, who also leads the steering committee for the national target program, chaired a meeting of the committee’s standing board on August 26.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam reported that 2,134 communes nationwide, or 22.7 percent of the total, fulfilled all the 19 new-style rural area criteria as of August 25. Of which, 2,025 communes have been recognised as new-style rural area. The number of communes fulfilling all criteria is expected to reach 25 percent by the end this year.

A rural road is being upgraded to become an asphalt road

He added that 300 communes have satisfied less than five criteria, down 26 from the year’s beginning. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has recognised 24 district-level units as new-style rural areas.

Regarding the legal framework building for the national target program, Nam said 14 of the 19 tasks under the competence of the Government and the PM, and 17 of the 20 tasks assigned to ministries and central sectors have not been completed.

For example, the Ministry of Planning and Investment is still working on draft regulations on managing and steering the implementation of national target programs – which were due to be finished by July 15. Meanwhile, the agriculture ministry has yet to finalise a draft Prime Minister’s decision about the new-style rural area criteria at the communal level.

Deputy PM Hue asked relevant ministries to complete all draft documents on the new-style countryside building for 2016-2020 by late September so that they can be promulgated as soon as possible.

The national target program on building new-style rural areas, initiated by the Vietnamese Government in 2010, sets 19 criteria on infrastructure, production, living standards, income and culture, among others, aiming to boost rural regions in Vietnam.

Under a decision issued by the Prime Minister in early April, a district must have all communes meeting all of the criteria to be designated as a new-style rural district. Earlier, those with at least 75 percent of the communes satisfying the 19 criteria were eligible.

The country aims to have 50 percent of all communes nationwide meet all the requirements by the end of 2020.