The northern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang has decided to invest 580 billion VND (27.26 million USD) to boost socio-economic development in Lam Binh, one of its poorest districts, for the 2013-2017 period.

Of the total investment, 346.5 billion VND is from the state budget and the local budget will shoulder 140 billion VND, while the remaining will be funded by Government bonds and ODA capital.

The project will focus on building necessary infrastructure system for sustainable agro-forestry development and the effective exploitation of the local potential and strengths, thus improving living conditions for local residents, mostly ethnic minorities.

The province aims to reduce the ratio of poor households in the district to 50 percent by 2015, raise per capita income to 14.6 million VND per year and 21 million VND by 2017, and bring the rate of malnourished children down to below 18 percent and 16 percent by 2017.

The project will also provide vocational training to more than 4,000 rural labourers and create 18,500 new jobs.-VNA