National Assembly deputies proposed prioritizing capital for disadvantaged areas, not allowing the program to spread out.

View of the meeting. (Photo: VNA)

On the morning of December 5, under the chairmanship of National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, the National Assembly discussed the plenary session on investment policy for the National Target Program on new rural areas, sustainable poverty reduction, and socio -economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas by 2035.

Highly agreeing on integrating three national target programs related to rural and mountainous areas to avoid duplication and overlap, some delegates suggested that the program needs to have focused investments, with a suitable system of indicators.

Delegate Ha Sy Dong (Quang Tri) said that some indicators still lack practical basis, are not fully quantified, and do not clearly reflect the conditions of local governments at two levels, livelihoods, infrastructure and resources in ethnic minority areas. Many indicators are still slogans and difficult to measure. He suggested "reviewing the entire system of indicators in the direction of having clear political , legal, practical, measurable bases, and accurately reflecting the reality of mountainous and ethnic minority areas".

Delegate Huynh Thi Anh Suong ( Quang Ngai ) proposed clarifying priority criteria for particularly difficult areas, border areas, islands and areas with high poverty rates and unsynchronized infrastructure, to effectively allocate capital and avoid dispersion.

Some delegates also suggested that it is necessary to review the assignment of the program's host agency, the coordination mechanism, as well as the capital structure between the central and local governments to implement the project.

Delegate Dieu Huynh Sang (Dong Nai) commented that the requirement for localities to allocate counterpart funds four times higher than the central budget is inappropriate and difficult to implement, especially in mountainous provinces where budget revenue is not enough to cover expenditure. She proposed to identify the central budget as the main resource and clearly stipulate the counterpart fund mechanism for each component.

Delegate Mai Van Hai (Thanh Hoa) proposed to assign the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment as the general governing body of the program; the specific component on socio-economic development in mountainous areas should be assigned to the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions to preside. At the same time, it is necessary to clarify the responsibilities of the commune level in the 2-level local government model.

To adapt to climate change, some delegates also suggested prioritizing resources, even arranging a separate sub-project to relocate people in areas frequently affected by natural disasters.

Source: https://vtv.vn/dbqh-de-nghi-uu-tien-von-cho-vung-kho-khan-khong-de-chuong-trinh-dan-trai-100251205114351079.htm