Hanoi (VNA)🧸 – Under direction from the Government and the Prime Minister, the nationwide programme to do away with makeshift and dilapidated houses has achieved highly positive results, with the number of newly built and repaired homes increasing day by day.

According to Minister of Ethnic and Religious Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung, by June 30, the completion rate for eliminating those types of housing across the country will reach 94.7%. The remainders are expected to be completed in July and August. However, Dung also noted that implementation in some localities still faces difficulties, particularly in terms of funding. Therefore, it is essential to address financial issues for these areas as early as possible.

94.7% substandard houses eradicated by June 30

Minister Dung stated that following the 4th meeting of the Central Steering Committee on the elimination of temporary and dilapidated houses across the nation, the Government issued an official dispatch calling for the fulfilment of this objective by August 31. In particular, housing support for families of martyrs and people with meritorious services to the revolution must be completed by July 27. The Prime Minister also assigned Government members to directly inspect and work with localities to accelerate the progress. Notably, many provinces have assigned their Party Committee members to directly oversee, supervise, and take responsibility for progress at the commune level. Thanks to these drastic measures, 38 out of 63 localities have now completed the goal of doing away with substandard houses for all three target groups, an increase of 23 localities as the fourth meeting took place on May 11. By June 30, an additional eight localities are expected to complete the task, bringing the total to 46. In July, three more are scheduled to finish, and 14 more in August. Regarding support resources, for the funding saved from the 5% reduction in regular expenditures, following the Prime Minister’s directive, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs have coordinated and reached an agreement with the Ministry of Finance to seek the Government leader's approval on reallocating the remaining savings to support 28 localities currently facing difficulty. At present, 46 localities have proactively advanced funding from their local budgets to support the construction of houses for people with meritorious service and the families of martyrs.

Vietnam determined to complete goal by August 31

The Prime Minister has called on ministries, sectors, and localities to take decisive action, demonstrating firm determination to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses across the nation by August 31. As for concrete results, the country has provided support for 262,843 out of a total of 277,420 houses, equivalent to 94.7%. This includes 41,565 houses for those who rendered service to the revolution, and 77,851 for poor and near-poor households under the national target programme for sustainable poverty reduction. There are also 8,621 units provided under the national target programme for ethnic minority-inhabited areas. For localities where construction has commenced but houses remain unfinished, Minister Dung emphasised the need to assign leaders to directly oversee and expedite the implementation. The military and police forces should focus on assisting localities still facing difficulties, such as Bac Giang, Ha Giang, Dien Bien, Thanh Hoa, Phu Tho, Hoa Binh, Quang Nam, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Cao Bang, and Bac Lieu./.