The northern province of Thai Binh is leading the national programme on new-style rural area building with 85 communes satisfying all 19 criteria so far.

On December 26, Thai Binh authorities recognised 71 communes meeting all 19 new-style rural area criteria in 2014 and rewarded them with 71.5 billion VND (3.4 million USD).

In 2014, total investment mobilized from all sources for the drive amounted to more than 6.3 trillion VND (301.09 million USD), of which 3.5 trillion VND came from local communities’ contribution.

The national target programme on building new-style rural areas, initiated by the Vietnamese Government in 2010, includes 19 criteria on socio-economic development, politics, and defence, aiming to boost rural regions of Vietnam.

The list of criteria includes the development of infrastructure, the improvement of production capacities, environmental protection, and the promotion of cultural values.
As many as 185 communes across Vietnam achieved all 19 criteria, and nearly 600 others met between 15-18 criteria. On average, each commune fulfilled 8.47 criteria compared to 4.7 in 2011, according to a report issued at a May 16 conference of the steering committee for the national target programme.

The country aims to have 20 percent and 50 percent of all communes nationwide meet all the requirements by the end of 2015 and 2020, respectively.-VNA