Building new rural areas after mergers

(QBĐT) - Before the reorganization and merger of commune-level units, some communes had already completed the criteria and achieved the new rural development (NRD) status. However, after the merger, many communes have seen a decrease in the number of criteria met. With the motto that building NRD is a continuous and ongoing task, "without a stopping point," the newly established communes continue to improve their organization and begin implementation, striving to bring their localities to NRD status as soon as possible.

After many years of striving and effort from the entire political system and the consensus of the people, the results of building new rural areas in Quang Binh have achieved many positive outcomes. Many communes have completed the criteria and been recognized as achieving new rural area standards, advanced new rural area standards, and model new rural area standards. However, after the merger, due to some communes being merged with communes that are more disadvantaged or have met fewer criteria, the construction of new rural areas has faced many difficulties.

Recognizing that building new rural areas is an important, regular, and continuous task, under the guidance of Party committees and authorities at all levels, many newly established communes have quickly stabilized their organizations and begun implementing the new rural area program.

At the end of November 2024, Phu Canh commune (Quang Trach district) was established by merging the entire area and population of Phu Hoa and Canh Hoa communes. Before the merger, Canh Hoa was one of the most disadvantaged mountainous communes in Quang Trach district. In 2021, Canh Hoa was on the list of communes achieving New Rural Area status; however, it wasn't until the end of 2023 that the commune struggled to complete the criteria to be recognized as achieving New Rural Area status. As for Phu Hoa commune, it is one of the particularly disadvantaged communes in the district; the lives of the people mainly depend on agriculture , and the poverty rate remains relatively high.

Following the merger, Ly Nam commune (Bo Trach district) faced numerous difficulties in building advanced new rural areas.

Before the merger, Phu Hoa commune had not yet met the criteria for building a new rural area. After the merger of Phu Hoa and Canh Hoa communes into Phu Canh commune, the roadmap for building a new rural area seems to need to be re-evaluated and re-implemented in many criteria.

According to Nguyen Thi Tinh, Chairwoman of the People's Committee of Phu Canh commune: "Immediately after the reorganization and merger of the two former units, Canh Hoa and Phu Hoa, we quickly stabilized and restructured the organizational apparatus to begin implementing political , economic, and social tasks, including the task of building new rural areas. However, because Phu Hoa was previously a disadvantaged commune, it had not yet met the standards for new rural areas. After the merger of the two communes, based on a review of the criteria, Phu Canh commune only met 15 out of 19 criteria for new rural areas. Of the four unmet criteria, the most difficult are the rural infrastructure criterion and the environmental criterion, specifically the percentage of households using clean water."

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tinh also added that immediately after the merger, the Steering Committee for the New Rural Development Program of Phu Canh commune began developing a plan for implementing the New Rural Development program for the following years. According to the plan and roadmap for New Rural Development that the commune has developed, Phu Canh will strive to complete the criteria to achieve the New Rural Development goal by 2026.

In accordance with the Party and State's policy on reorganizing commune-level administrative units, at the end of 2024, Quang Binh province proceeded with the merger of several communes. In Quang Trach district, Phu Canh commune was established by merging the area and population of Phu Hoa and Canh Hoa communes. In Minh Hoa district, Tan Thanh commune was established by merging the area and population of Hoa Phuc, Hoa Tien, and Hoa Thanh communes... In Bo Trach district, two new communes were established: Ha My and Ly Nam. Ha My commune was formed by merging the area and population of Ha Trach and My Trach communes; Ly Nam commune was formed by merging the area and population of Ly Trach and Nam Trach communes.

After merging several communes, Quang Binh province reduced its number of communes from 128 to 122. To date, the province has 2 district-level units that have completed the construction of new rural areas and 97 communes that have met the new rural area standards (79.5%); of which 19 communes have met the advanced new rural area standards (19.6%) and 6 communes have met the model new rural area standards (6.2%).

Mr. Nguyen Van Trung, Secretary of the Party Committee of Ly Nam commune, said: Before merging into Ly Nam commune, Ly Trach commune was recognized as a New Rural Area standard commune in 2020, and Nam Trach commune was recognized as a New Rural Area standard commune in 2019; both communes are currently in the process of building advanced New Rural Areas. And according to the roadmap, by the end of 2025, Nam Trach commune will complete the criteria for building advanced New Rural Areas.

However, after the merger, an assessment revealed that many criteria for building advanced new rural areas in Ly Nam commune have not yet been met because the former Ly Trach commune did not meet some of the new rural area criteria according to the 2021-2025 new rural area criteria set. Therefore, the roadmap for completing the construction of advanced new rural areas in Ly Nam commune is expected to be difficult and take longer.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tuan, Deputy Head of the New Rural Development Coordination Office and Deputy Head of the Provincial Department of Cooperative Economics and Rural Development, stated: Following the policy of rearranging and merging commune-level units, many localities, after the mergers, have to review and reassess the criteria for building new rural areas. Based on the criteria that have not yet been met, the communes must continue to improve in order to be recognized as achieving the standards of new rural areas, advanced new rural areas, and model new rural areas in the future.

D. Nguyet

Source: https://baoquangbinh.vn/kinh-te/202504/xay-dung-nong-thon-moi-sau-sap-nhap-2225515/