Farmers in Chiềng La commune participate in building rural roads.

The appearance of the countryside is improving day by day.

Visiting the new rural communes of Thuan Chau, one witnesses the changes in the countryside. These include long stretches of concrete roads within and between villages; hills covered in the green of fruit trees, tea, and coffee plantations, alongside prosperous villages. Schools, health stations, and cultural centers have received investment; and the cultural and spiritual lives of the people are always filled with new joys.

With the policy of promoting the people's sense of ownership and mobilizing internal resources to build new rural areas, Chiềng La commune achieved the goal of becoming a new rural area by the end of 2023. During this process, the commune received nearly 21.4 billion VND in support from the State and nearly 1.3 billion VND from the people to build infrastructure. To date, all 6 villages have cultural centers; 100% of households have access to regular and safe electricity; 10 irrigation works ensure water supply for 64 hectares of agricultural land; and there are no more temporary or dilapidated houses.

Mr. Lo Van Dinh, Party Secretary and Head of Chieng La village, happily said: "All activities related to building new rural areas are carried out with the motto 'the people know, the people discuss, the people do, the people inspect, the people supervise, and the people benefit,' creating consensus in implementation. Thanks to the new rural area program, village roads and alleys have been concreted, making them neat, clean, and beautiful. Increased income has helped to change the lives of the people, and the appearance of the villages is becoming more and more vibrant. We will continue to work with the local government to maintain and improve the quality of the criteria."

During the process of building new rural areas, Thuan Chau district has successfully implemented state programs and projects, prioritizing infrastructure development. In 2023, the district invested in the construction of 128 projects with a total allocated capital of over 542 billion VND, mainly focusing on basic construction, such as rural roads, commune offices, cultural centers, schools, commune health stations, irrigation works, and water supply... gradually meeting the essential needs of the people and completing the criteria for social infrastructure. Along with state support, the district also called for contributions from officials, Party members, the people, and philanthropists to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses; participate in repairing rural roads; promote environmental protection and clean up the rural environment; and build agricultural economic models.

Farmers in Phong Lai commune are tending to their fruit trees.

Mr. Ha Trung Thang, Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee, said: The district is focusing on reviewing and developing plans to implement the criteria for New Rural Development and plans to achieve New Rural Development standards in the 2023-2025 period. It directs specialized departments and the People's Committees of communes to develop plans based on their functions, tasks, and the district's programs, and to organize the implementation of the contents; proposing solutions to overcome difficulties and obstacles for the grassroots level during the implementation process. It also promotes propaganda to help people raise awareness of the purpose, meaning, and importance of building New Rural Development, linking it with the campaigns "All people unite to build a cultured life in residential areas," "All people unite to build new rural areas and civilized urban areas," "Women joining hands to build New Rural Development," and "Youth joining hands to build New Rural Development"...

Thanks to this collective effort and unity, the district has 5 communes that have achieved the New Rural Area standard; the average number of criteria met per commune is 8.75; 5 out of 28 communes have met the transportation criteria; 27 communes have met the irrigation and disaster prevention criteria; 22 communes have met the rural commercial infrastructure criteria; and the percentage of the population with access to safe electricity has reached 97%...

Mobilize all resources to invest in building new rural areas.

In 2024, Thuan Chau district set specific goals and tasks, focusing on consolidating, maintaining, and improving the indicators and criteria for building new rural areas in the communes; selecting criteria with strengths, breakthrough potential, or those requiring less investment capital to prioritize implementation. The goal is to achieve 9.2 criteria per commune; and to complete the reassessment dossiers for Tong Lanh and Phong Lai communes according to the Provincial People's Committee's Decision on communes achieving new rural area standards in the 2016-2020 period.

Currently, Tong Lanh commune is focusing on consolidating, improving, and perfecting the criteria for building new rural areas according to the set of criteria for the 2021-2025 period. Mr. Luong Van Hanh, Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, informed: Through review and assessment, the commune still has 3 criteria that have not been met, including: income, poverty, and health. Regarding the income criterion, the commune is promoting and mobilizing people to exploit the advantages of developing trade and services; shifting from growing low-yield food crops to growing fruit trees; and growing grass to develop livestock farming in the form of confined breeding.

To date, Tong Lanh commune has one central market, 209 households engaged in production, trade, and services; maintaining over 2,700 head of livestock and 30,150 head of poultry. Regarding healthcare criteria, the commune has assigned targets for expanding health insurance coverage to each village. It has also intensified propaganda through the village and commune's public address systems about the rights and obligations of health insurance participants; updated and supplementary policies; and support provided for difficulties encountered during medical examinations and treatment.

Following the principle of "Do the easy things first, then the difficult ones," and "Complete each criterion thoroughly," Muoi Noi commune has so far achieved 10 out of 19 criteria for New Rural Development. In 2024, the commune set a goal of achieving criteria related to labor, environmental sanitation, and food safety. Accordingly, the commune has reviewed and compiled a list of people of working age; developed a plan to address employment issues; and coordinated the organization of training courses to transfer scientific and technical knowledge in production to the people… Regarding the criteria for environmental sanitation and food safety, the commune has established working groups in the villages to disseminate information and guide people in registering to implement the environmental criteria. Regulations on ensuring environmental sanitation have been incorporated into the village's customary laws. Cadres and Party members have been assigned to disseminate information and supervise residential clusters in implementing environmental sanitation regulations; and control and supervision of production and business activities have been strengthened. Community organizations are coordinating the "Green Sunday for Joint Efforts in Building New Rural Areas," "cleaning the environment of village roads and alleys," linked with the "5 No's, 3 Cleanliness" movement; building mini incinerators... Striving to achieve a 50% rate of household solid waste and non-hazardous solid waste collection and treatment by November 2024; and a 35% rate of households implementing solid waste sorting at source and collection, reuse, recycling, and treatment according to regulations.

Ms. Tong Thi Thom, from Bo Nguong village, Muoi Noi commune, shared: “After the village and commune authorities disseminated information about waste sorting and environmental protection regulations, I have seriously complied with disposing of waste in the designated places. I collect recyclable plastic waste and put it in separate bags. Currently, 100% of the people in the village strictly adhere to environmental protection regulations.”

The people of Chiềng Pha commune participated in cleaning up the environment.

With the perspective of "Mobilizing internal resources is key; support from businesses is important; and state investment is necessary," Thuan Chau district is focusing on mobilizing resources to invest in the construction and upgrading of rural infrastructure, primarily to serve the needs of the people, and then to prioritize projects serving production. This includes socializing clean water projects; investing in the construction of rural environmental sanitation facilities; health stations; schools; electricity; roads; community cultural centers; and irrigation systems. Support is also provided for the development of high-quality plant and animal breeds suitable to the production conditions of each locality...

We believe that, with the strong determination of the entire political system and the people, Thuan Chau district will leverage the strength of great unity and determination to complete the New Rural Development Program in the area, contributing to achieving the goal of the district escaping poverty by 2025.

Source: baoxaydung.com.vn