Funding for infrastructure development in the southwest province of Tay Ninh has proved effective, evidenced by substantial socio-economic improvements.

The Tay Ninh People’s Committee said since 2006, nearly 1.55 trillion VND (68.55 million USD) sourced from State and local budgets has been spent on developing infrastructure in 20 communes bordering Cambodia.

Of the sum, over 600 billion VND (27.42 million USD) was spent on building more than 900 kilometres of roads, and around 200 billion VND (9.14 million USD) was allocated for facilities within economic zones at Moc Bai and Xa Mat border gates and auxiliary border gates.

The province funded school constructions and repairs with 313 billion VND (14.3 million USD) while another 56 billion VND (2.56 million USD) was earmarked for upgrading and equipping clinics with technical equipment, the committee said.

It added electricity systems, border markets, water supply and irrigation stations and cultural centres in recent years.

Provincial authorities said thanks to infrastructure development and favourable conditions for cross-border business activities, local socio-economic situation has progressed.

The gross domestic product of the 20 border communes has increased by an average of 11.8 percent annually since 2006 while agro-forestry-fishery production value has expanded by 6.4 percent each year and the service industry has enjoyed an annual 9.5 percent pace.

Per capita income in these localities has exceeded 2,000 USD, helping reduce the rate of impoverished and near-poor households to 4 percent by late 2014, the provincial People’s Committee noted.

However, it admitted funding for the border communes has met just over 50 percent of real demand due to limited local budgets, adding that roads serving border trading activities in Tan Bien, Tan Chau, Ben Cau, Chau Thanh, and Trang Bang districts have decayed and need repairs as soon as possible.

At a recent working session with the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Economic Affairs, Chairwoman of the People’s Committee Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy asked for finances for upgrading a 240-kilometre border belt road and building an expanded section of the National Road 14C traversing Chau Thanh border district to boost trade activities and defence-security cooperation in border areas.-VNA