The central province of Khanh Hoa has mobilised nearly 15 trillion VND (705 million USD) from different sources for its new-style rural area building programme in 94 communes throughout the locality over the past four years.

According to the provincial steering committee for the programme, the amount was spent in building key infrastructural facilities such as roads, irrigation works, and those serving education, cultural activities and environmental protection.

Khanh Hoa also focused on developing agricultural production models, helping raise income and improve living standards for rural locals.

The province now has 10 communes meeting all 19 new-style rural area criteria, namely Ninh Quang (Ninh Hoa town), Vinh Ngoc and Vinh Hiep (Nha Trang city), Dien An, Dien Lac, Dien Phuoc and Dien Phu (Dien Khanh district), Cam Hai Tay (Cam Lam district), Cam Thanh Nam and Cam Binh (Cam Ranh city).

The number of communes meeting from 15-18 requirements of the programme is five, while those that satisfied from 10-14 criteria and from 5-9 criteria are 31 and 44, respectively.

The province hopes to add another 12 communes to the list of those satisfying all 19 criteria in 2015,

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.

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