With only about 60 days left to meet the deadline for repairing and rebuilding some 900 houses damaged by natural disasters in the central region, Chief of the Office and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Construction Nguyen Tri Duc told the Government’s regular press briefing on December 6 that the ministry has prepared a system of disaster-resilient housing design templates for 2007–2023, comprising 176 models ready for localities to use.
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Chief of the Office and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Construction Nguyen Tri Duc speaks at the Government’s regular press briefing. |
The ministry has requested the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities involved to direct their departments of construction and related agencies to coordinate with the National Institute of Architecture to examine the geographical characteristics of each locality and select appropriate housing models. Their work must be linked with broader construction plans, rural plans, and regional plans to ensure long-term safety, not just immediate recovery.
Regarding support and concessional loan packages to help affected households resume livelihoods after floods, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Phung Duc Tien said the Government has issued a decree and a resolution on a 2% lending interest rate reduction policy. International partners and donor countries have provided more than 21 million USD in aid, while enterprises and mass organizations have contributed over 50 billion VND (1.89 million USD).
Since the beginning of the year, natural disasters have left 419 people dead and caused estimated economic losses of 97 trillion VND, with agriculture suffering severe impacts.
Despite domestic and global challenges, the agricultural sector has still recorded positive results, Tien noted.
According to him, as of the end of November, Vietnam had produced 42.56 million tons of unhusked rice, and the year’s output is expected to exceed 43 million tons. Without storms, production could have reached 43.7 million tons.
In the fisheries sector, output was projected at 9.7–9.8 million tons without storm impacts. Currently, it has reached 9.05 million tons and still has the potential to surpass the 2024 figure.
The livestock sector has to date achieved overall growth of 2.8%. Plantation timber output has reached nearly 31 million cubic meters.
Notably, agro-forestry-fishery export turnover has hit 64.01 billion USD, with a trade surplus of 19.55 billion USD, statistics show.
Source: VNA