These days, the Party Committee, government and people of Trieu Phong district are happy to hear that on August 15, 2024, the Prime Minister signed a Certificate of recognition for Trieu Phong district meeting new rural standards (NTM). This is the result of Trieu Phong district's efforts after 13 years of implementing the national target program (MTQG) on building new rural areas.

A corner of Ai Tu town today - Photo: NV

Deploying new rural construction with high determination

In recent times, closely following the central and provincial directives on new rural construction, Trieu Phong district has promptly issued many resolutions, projects and plans, including Resolution No. 04 dated May 10, 2011 of the District Party Committee on new rural construction in Trieu Phong district for the period 2011-2015; Conclusion No. 02 dated April 28, 2016 of the District Party Committee, term XIX on continuing to implement Resolution No. 04 of the District Party Committee, term XVIII on new rural construction in Trieu Phong district to implement...

To achieve the set goals, the District Party Committee, People's Council, and People's Committee of Trieu Phong district focus on leading and directing specialized agencies to inspect, urge, and guide communes to review and evaluate the current status according to the National Criteria for New Rural Construction, and develop planning and projects for New Rural Communes according to regulations as a basis for implementation.

From there, it is required that Party committees and authorities at all levels specify the task of building new rural areas into monthly, quarterly, 6-month and annual work plans as well as integrate them into the action plans of departments, branches, sectors and mass organizations of the district for implementation.

During the implementation process, Trieu Phong district periodically organizes preliminary and final reviews, evaluates and draws lessons, promptly resolves difficulties and obstacles right at the grassroots level. The district has also established a Steering Committee for the National Target Program on New Rural Development in the district and has improved it over the years. To carry out the task of advising and assisting the Steering Committee, Trieu Phong district has established the Office for Coordination of the National Target Program on New Rural Development in the district.

The commune level also established a management board for the National Target Program on New Rural Construction for the period 2021-2025; 100% of villages established development boards for implementation. The district steering committee and commune management board promptly issued resolutions, programs, thematic plans for each period, each year, operating regulations, and assigned tasks. From there, the Party Committee, the head of the Party Committee, and the government strengthened their leadership and direction role in implementing with a suitable roadmap and solutions for new rural construction.

Along with that, propaganda, training, coaching, and resource mobilization have been focused on. From 2011 to present, the District Steering Committee and the District Office of the National Target Program for New Rural Development have chaired and coordinated with the Provincial Office of the New Rural Development Coordination to organize training courses and send delegations to study experiences in building new rural areas in many localities in the country to research and select good models and creative ways to apply to their localities.

By the end of 2023, Trieu Phong district had mobilized 1,608,131.8 million VND to build new rural areas; of which the central budget supported 181,265.1 million VND, accounting for 11.3%, the provincial budget supported 47,237.7 million VND, accounting for 2.9%, community capital 67,827 million VND, accounting for 4.2%, the remaining capital was from the district, commune, enterprise budgets, capital combined with programs and credit capital.

Another noteworthy thing is that in the process of implementing the construction of the new rural area, Trieu Phong district has invested in many infrastructure projects to serve the economic, cultural and social development in the area but has not allowed the arising of outstanding debts for basic construction.

The socio-economic situation has many improvements.

At the time of starting to implement the construction of new rural areas, the whole district only achieved an average of 4.6 criteria/commune. The implementation of the socio-economic development tasks of the district encountered many difficulties, economic growth was low, socio-economic infrastructure was weak, average income per capita was only 10.2 million VND/year, poor households accounted for 23.11%. In particular, with the characteristics of a purely agricultural district, agricultural production was still small-scale, limiting competitiveness in the market, while some cooperatives and cooperatives were still weak and slow to be consolidated.

Industry and services develop slowly, with an average growth rate of only 10.8-11% per year. The structure of industry and services accounts for a small proportion of 46.6%, which has not strongly promoted the transformation of economic and labor structure. Production is not well linked to the market, industries are underdeveloped, and the problem of creating more jobs, increasing income, and improving the lives of rural people has not been well resolved.

Along with that, the facilities of some schools are still lacking, the quality of education has been improved but is not uniform, vocational training has not met the requirements of employers; grassroots health care has not met the health care needs of the people.

Although the political security and social order and safety situation is stable, there are times and places where it is still complicated. A part of the people, due to not being deeply aware of the meaning and importance of building new rural areas, have not actively participated and have not promoted their role as the main subject in building new rural areas. Some communes still have the mindset of waiting and relying on investment sources from the budget, and there are overlapping responsibilities between levels and sectors...

To soon complete the NTM criteria, Trieu Phong district determined that agriculture plays an important role in the economy. From there, it prioritizes allocating resources to restructure the agricultural sector towards focusing on sustainable development, ensuring food security and selling to the market. During the implementation process, localities focus on improving the quality and value of key products associated with NTM construction.

Accordingly, the communes in the hilly areas develop industrial and timber crops combined with growing flowers, food crops and developing farm economy. The communes in the plains and Ai Tu town promote the improvement of productivity and rice output, of which the development of high-quality rice area accounts for over 80%. The communes in the East of the district located in the Southeast Quang Tri Economic Zone implement solutions to develop industry - handicrafts, services, tourism, aquaculture and fishing.

On the district side, the focus is on investing in infrastructure of two industrial clusters: Dong Ai Tu Industrial Cluster and Ai Tu Industrial Cluster - Craft Village. Up to now, Dong Ai Tu Industrial Cluster has attracted 22 enterprises investing in industries such as garment, plantation wood processing, electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing, and industrial gas production. The occupancy rate of the industrial clusters reaches 100%, creating regular jobs for thousands of local workers.

In the fields of health, culture and education, there has been continuous development. Up to now, the whole district has 40/42 schools meeting national standards, accounting for 95.2%. The health network has been built from district to commune, including the district health center with 2 facilities, 18 commune and town health stations. The rural transport and irrigation systems have been invested synchronously, meeting the needs of the people...

With that approach, in recent years, the district's economy has achieved a fairly good growth rate, with an average growth rate of 10% per year in the 2011-2020 period, of which the 2011-2015 period increased by 8.5% per year and the 2016-2020 period increased by 11.5% per year. The district's economic growth rate in 2023 reached 13.2%, with an average income per capita of 68.44 million VND. The rate of trained workers reached 63.2%, of which 29.8% had degrees and certificates, creating new jobs for 3,250 people, of which 431 people were exported. The poverty rate at the end of 2023 was 3.34%, and near-poor households were 3.84%.

Nguyen Vinh