Bac Lieu (VNA) – Phuoc Long has become the first district in theMekong Delta province of Bac Lieu getting the new-style rural area status.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Thanh Nam grantedthe Prime Minister’s decision to the district’s authorities during a January 29ceremony to announce the district as a new-style area in 2017.
With this recognition, the province now has 16communes and one district named new-style rural areas.
At the ceremony, Nam acknowledged the jointefforts made by the district’s authorities and locals to gain the achievement,hoping that the district will continue focusing on improving the livingconditions of residents.
On this occasion, the provincial People’sCommittee also gave a cash award of 10 billion VND (440,000 USD) to thedistrict.
Five units and seven individuals were alsohonoured for their outstanding contributions to new-style rural area building.
Chairman of the district People’s Committee PhamThanh Hai, who is also head of the district new-style rural area buildingprogramme, said that the district has all seven communes meeting the criteriaset for a new style rural area. The programme cost over 930 billion VND (41 millionUSD), of which over 90 billion VND (3.96 million USD) was donated by locals.
The district’s income per capital reached 42million VND (1,850 USD) per year, and the poor household rate fell to 3.9percent in 2017.
The National Target Programme on New RuralDevelopment, launched in 2010, set out 19 criteria for new-style rural areascovering infrastructure, production, living standards, income, culture andothers.
The list of criteria includes the development ofinfrastructure, the improvement of production capacity, environmentalprotection and the promotion of cultural values.
In 2015, the set of criteria was increasedto 20.
A district must haveat least 75 percent of its communes meeting all the set criteria in order toreceive the title of new-style rural district.-VNA
It is necessary to continue assessing public satisfaction with outcomes of new-style rural area building seriously in order to promote responsibility and role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front in the work.
About 31.4 trillion VND (1.38 billion USD) was used in building new-style rural areas in 2017, heard a conference held by the Central Coordination Office on New Rural Development on January 8.
The southern province of Binh Duong strives to complete the national target programme for new-style rural area building with all communes winning the status in 2018.
The central province of Thua Thien – Hue plans to spend nearly 1.79 trillion VND (78.5 million USD) on its new rural area development scheme in 2018.
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Illustrative image (Source: VNA) 
