Hanoi (VNA) –🔴 Deputy Prime Min⛦ister Vuong Dinh Hue has signed decisions recognising two districts of Quoc Oai and Gia Lam in the capital city of Hanoi as new-style rural areas.

During the past eight years, Quoc Oai district has upgraded more than 766 km of rural roads and 80 km of irrigation canals. It has also built new schools and communal houses, along with setting up 15 garbage collection points and two garbage and wastewater treatment facilities. In 2018, total agro-forestry-fishery production value of the district reached over 1.46 trillion VND (about 62.75 million USD), accounting for 15.2 percent of the district’s economic structure. Notably, all rural families have access to clean water and health insurance coverage hits 86.56 percent. The rate of poor households has been reduced to 0.46 percent. Meanwhile, Gia Lam district recorded an average growth rate of 12.7 percent in the 2017 – 2018 period. Annual per capita income of the district increased to 48.9 million VND in 2018 from just 17.9 million VND in 2010. In nearly nine years, the district spent more than 5.01 trillion VND on building new-style rural areas, including 550 billion VND mobilised from social sources. About 227 km of rural roads, 68 km of canals and 151 education establishments were built and repaired in the period. The national target programme on new-style rural area building, initiated by the Government in 2010, sets 19 criteria on different aspects with the aim of giving a facelift to rural regions of Vietnam. The list of criteria includes the development of infrastructure, the improvement of production capacity, environmental protection, and the promotion of cultural values. Reports from the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development show that after 10 years implementing the Party Committee’s Programme No.02-CTr/TU on branching out agriculture, building new-style rural areas and bettering local farmers’ lives, the added value of the agricultural sector increases 2.5 percent per year on average, while the total value of agro-forestry-fishery production inches up 3.6 percent. Per capita income rose to 46.5 million VND (1,998 USD) in 2018 from 33 million VND in 2015, and the figure is expected to increase to 49 million VND in the end of this year. In addition, the rate of poor households had been brought down to 1.81 percent in the end of 2018 from 3.65 percent in 2016. Infrastructure development in rural areas has been well implemented, and even surpasses the set goal. To be more specific, 378 communes have met requirements in transportation standard, up 5 communes from the end of 2018, 384 communes satisfied irrigational system standard, 386 reached electricity standard while school and cultural facility standards have seen the accomplishment of 342 and 373 communes, respectively. Besides, convenience stores and mini-markets have mushroomed on the edge of the capital city. According to the municipal Department of Planning and Investment, Hanoi splashed out more than 76.45 trillion VND for local agricultural and rural development from 2011 to June 2019. Especially, State budget worth nearly 26 trillion VND was allocated for 18 districts and communes to carry out the new-style rural area building programme. Besides, Hanoi authorities recently announced to spend 265 billion VND implementing the local One Commune-One Product (OCOP) programme for the 2019-2020 period, as part of efforts to accelerate the building of new-style rural areas. Initially, the local programme will focus on a number of commodity groups, including food, beverage, herbs, fabrics and apparel, souvenir – home decoration, and agricultural tourism. Participating organisations will receive support to invest in machines and equipment for production, design and register their brands, access capital, hire experts, and distribute goods. Currently, the capital city has approximately 7,200 products suitable to six OCOP groups. Of the total, there are 2,881 food products (39 percent); 2,417 souvenir – home decoration products (33.5 percent); and 1,396 fabric and apparel products (19.3 percent)./.