Bac Ninh Builds New Countryside and Modern City

Bac Ninh province has 126 communes, wards and towns, with 97 localities carrying out National Target Program for New Countryside Construction. Right since the early years of implementation, the province has paid due attention to prioritizing resources for new countryside construction, which is one of its key tasks in the 2010 - 2020 period.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Truong, Deputy Director of the Bac Ninh Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said, after nearly 10 years of implementation, the program has achieved outstanding results: (1) The face of rural areas has been uplifted; key infrastructure such as traffic routes, electricity grid, schools, cultural works and markets have been invested in line with the urbanization strategy in order to develop production and improve people’s lives; culture, society, health and education have been developed; the grassroots political system has been strengthened; and the State apparatus has increasingly improved its performance; (2) Agricultural production and service has developed, with many enterprises and cooperatives joining value chains. Robustly restructured agricultural production has facilitated economic development and promoted advantages of agricultural production and services in rural areas; (3) Farmers’ lives has been improved. Average income of rural residents reached VND59 million a year. (4) Bac Ninh is standing among the top in the country in new countryside construction targets fulfilled: On average, a commune fulfilled 18.85 criteria, 10 criteria higher than in 2010. The province had 89 certified communes (equal to 91.75% of total communes), three certified districts and certified town. Bac Ninh province is making an effort to have three more districts and eight more communes to be recognized to fulfil new countryside construction criteria by the end of 2019 to basically complete the National Target Program for New Countryside Construction.

In the coming time, the National Target Program for New Countryside Construction will focus on developing urbanization-oriented infrastructure, developing high-tech agriculture, facilitating industrial development and agricultural services alongside with protecting the environment, conserving and promoting good traditional cultural values, and improving the quality of material and spiritual life of rural people to build sustainable new rural areas towards the direction that Bac Ninh will become a centrally-run city by 2022.

To realize these goals, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bac Ninh province has advised the provincial government on consistent and effective measures and solutions as follows:

1. Further promoting responsibility, raising awareness of the political system of new countryside and civilized city construction. This is considered a central and regular political task. The leading role of people in this cause will be further affirmed.

2. Speeding up communications on construction of new countryside and a modern city; diversifying communication forms on mass media in order to launch the emulation movement “Bac Ninh unites for new countryside construction”, the campaign “All people unite for new countryside and modern city construction”, the campaign “women-managed flower streets” and others; scaling up good models, creative ways and typical examples of new countryside construction.

3. Effectively carrying out the project “Restructuring the agricultural sector towards increased added value and sustainable development”, which focuses on promoting the application of scientific and technological advances to production; forming concentrated production areas for environmentally friendly organic agriculture and biosafety; improving productivity, increasing agricultural production value.

4. Focusing on effectively carrying out the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program in Bac Ninh province in 2018-2020, with an eye to 2030, in order to create many high-quality, competitive goods of the province.

5. Investing to upgrade rural infrastructure to form residential areas and infrastructure suitable for agricultural and rural industrialization and modernization, restructuring agriculture and promoting large-scale commercial agricultural development to gradually prepare urban development and avoid wasted investment.

6. Concentrating on protecting the environment, creating a bright - green - clean - beautiful and modern countryside landscape, preserving traditional rural characteristics and identity by developing and scaling up flower and tree road models, creating a clean pollution-free rural environment, implementing waste sorting models, recommending not using plastic bags in daily life; launching village clean-up movements; improving clean water utilization rate by applying appropriate socialization forms.

7. Improving the quality of cultural life and maintaining order and security: Integrating new countryside construction with the movement “All people unite to build a cultural life”; encouraging and regularly organizing social, cultural, artistic, physical training and sports events to attract a large number of participants; preventing social evils; organizing community development activities to promote and preserve good traditional values.

8. Piloting some new integrated rural and urban residential area models carrying typical cultural identity of Bac Ninh.