Soc Trang province has 19 new-style rural communes

Soc Trang (VNA) – The southern province of Soc Trang reported that 19 out of 80 communes in the province have completed all 19 criteria to be considered as new rural areas, equal to 23.75 percent.

The number of such communes is expected to reach 22 by the end of the year.

At a December 18 conference reviewing five years of implementation of the national goal programme on building new-style rural areas from 2011-2015, the province’s programme steering committee said the province has raised 6,760 billion VND (300 million USD) for the cause.

Soc Trang has set the goal of having more than half of communes in the province and two districts qualify as new rural areas by 2020.

The province hoped to raise 23,450 billion VND in the period of 2016-2020 to realise the target.

The national target programme’s criteria cover infrastructure, production, living standards, income and culture, among others, aiming to boost rural regions in Vietnam. A district must have at least 75 percent of its communes meeting all the 19 criteria in order to receive the title of new rural district.

As many as 1,300 communes were recognised as satisfying the criteria, or 14.5 percent of the total, as of November 2015, according to a report delivered by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat at a Hanoi conference on December 8.

At the district level, 11 were accorded the status, including those in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh, Nam Dinh, Lam Dong, Dong Nai and Hau Giang.

Vietnam aims to have 50 percent of all communes nationwide meet all the requirements by the end of 2020.-VNA