Khmer commune in Soc Trang becomes new-style rural area hinh anh 1A road in An Hiep commune (Source: http://baosoctrang.org.vn)

Soc Trang (VNA) – An Hiep, a poor commune in Chau Thanh district, the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, with 66 percent of its population being Khmer ethnic minority people, has become the third commune of Chau Thanh to be recognised as a new-style rural area.

According to Chairman of the An Hiep communal People’s Committee Nguyen Van Hau, over the past years, locals has contributed over 20 billion VND (860,000 USD) in cash, along with lands, construction materials and working days to the new-style rural area building programme.

Therefore, all rural transport works have been completed as scheduled, he said.

In 2010 when the locality started the new-style rural building programme, An Hiep met only five out of 19 criteria of the programme. Thanks to support of the provincial leaders and efforts of the local Party Committee, authorities and people, the commune fulfilled all the criteria, said Hau.

He noted that all roads to residential areas are concretised, while all local households access power services, and 99.5 percent of them enjoy clean water.

Five out of six schools in the commune have met national standards, while political security and social order and safety have been ensured.

Particularly, the ratio of locals having a stable job reached 93.4 percent, with average income of 42.1 million VND per person each year, resulting in a drop in poverty ratio to 3.4 percent from 26.3 percent in 2010.

So far, Soc Trang has 25 out of total 80 communes finishing all 19 criteria of a new-style rural area, many of which are home to Khmer people.

Under its plan, the province has 32 new-style rural areas at the end of 2018, accounting for 40 percent of its total communes.-VNA
VNA