Breakthrough in building new-style rural areas

Following the administrative reorganization at the commune and provincial levels, Dong Nai now has 72 communes that will continue implementing the National Target Program on New-Style Rural Development.

A corner of the center of Loc Thanh border commune, Dong Nai Province. Photo: Vu Thuyen

Despite ongoing challenges, the newly merged communes, building on more than 15 years of notable achievements in implementing the new-style rural development program, are set to fully leverage their spatial and development potential to make breakthroughs in the coming period.

A “lever” for remote communes

Loc Quang Commune was newly established through the merger of three former communes: Loc Quang, Loc Phu, and Loc Hiep. As remote localities with a high proportion of ethnic minority households, the commune has been given priority in resources for infrastructure development, gradually shaping a more modern and vibrant rural landscape.

Following the new criteria, in the 2026–2030 period, Dong Nai Province aims for 70% of its communes to meet new-style rural area standards, with 10% reaching the advanced level.

The first highlight is a key transport route connecting four residential areas in remote and ethnic minority regions to the commune center. The road, stretching over 10 kilometers with a 7-meter-wide asphalt surface, includes a dual drainage system on both sides, each one meter wide and covered for safety. The project, with a total investment of over VND 90 billion, is considered the most modern, well-constructed, and high-quality inter-hamlet and inter-village road in this remote area.

Alongside its transport system, Loc Quang has seen substantial investment in public facilities and infrastructure aimed at improving livelihoods, driving economic growth, and raising living standards. In Bu Nom and Bu Linh hamlets, two particularly disadvantaged areas where most residents depend on agriculture, including around 30 hectares of wet-rice fields, farmers previously struggled due to a lack of irrigation, which allowed for only one crop per year and limited their income.

To address this issue, in 2024, nearly VND 10 billion from the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas was allocated to the former Loc Phu Commune to build a 2.5 km irrigation canal, integrated with a water control dam and a concrete farm road. The project not only ensures a regular water supply across the area but also provides farmers with easier access for travel and agricultural transport.

“Due to the lack of irrigation, farming has long depended on rainwater, leading to low productivity and yields. However, since late 2024, with support from the Party and the State, the construction of irrigation canals combined with in-field roads has not only made it easier for farmers to travel and transport crops but also increased rice production from one to three crops per year,” shared Lam Tha May, a resident of Bu Linh Hamlet, Loc Quang Commune.

Despite receiving significant investment, Loc Quang, starting from a very low baseline, remains one of five communes in Dong Nai that have yet to meet the New-style Rural Development (NRD) standards. Building on recent achievements, the Party Committee, authorities, and local people of Loc Quang are determined to bring the commune to NRD completion by the end of the 2025–2030 term.

According to Hoang Thien Son, Vice Chairman of the Loc Quang Commune People's Committee, in order to meet NRD standards, the commune will concentrate resources on unmet criteria such as planning, education, transport, and electricity, while also investing to improve the quality of criteria that have been met but remain substandard.

Besides Loc Quang, four other communes in Dong Nai, including Bu Gia Map, Phu Nghia, Nghia Trung, and Tho Son, also have yet to meet NRD standards, each facing different challenges. Recognizing that new-style rural development is a continuous process, together with State support, local Party committees and authorities are leveraging post-merger strengths to set clear goals and action plans, striving to meet rural development targets by the end of the 2025–2030 term with the highest level of determination.

With the overarching goal of raising living standards and transitioning to modern, advanced rural areas, not only the communes that have not yet achieved NRD status but also those already meeting the standards are pursuing innovative initiatives. For instance, in the border commune of Loc Thanh, right at the start of the 2025–2030 term, the commune prioritized upgrading school infrastructure and channelling resources into transport development. These are considered critical links to drive socio-economic progress in the locality.

Rising and breakthroughs

In the former Dong Nai area, Dak Lua used to be one of the province’s most disadvantaged communes. Thanks to the strong determination of the entire political system, the commune’s new-style rural development (NRD) program during the first phase (2011–2020) achieved many positive results. In 2011, the commune’s average per capita income was only VND 18 million, but by 2016, when it achieved NRD standards, income had increased to VND 45 million. Building on these achievements, Dak Lua has continued to transform, making steady progress and becoming increasingly prosperous year after year. In the second phase of the 2021–2025 program on building advanced and model new-style rural areas, Dak Lua reached the milestone of meeting the standards for an advanced new-style rural commune.

Guided by the principle that NRD has no end point, and by leveraging post-merger potential and strengths, all 72 communes in Dong Nai Province will mobilize resources to further advance the program in a comprehensive, effective, and sustainable manner in this new era of development.

“To date, Dak Lua commune has fulfilled all 19/19 criteria for NRD and advanced NRD. Among these, the agricultural sector has been one of the strongest performers. Building on these results, during the 2025–2030 term, Dak Lua is determined to maintain its advanced NRD status, with a priority on developing high-tech, organic, and sustainable agriculture,” shared Nguyen Thanh Hien, Chairman of the Dak Lua commune People’s Committee.

Throughout the two key phases of NRD, advanced NRD, and model NRD, the former Dong Nai area has persistently strived to meet its plans and targets. Aiming to maintain model NRD status during the 2025–2030 term, the Party Committee of Phu Hoa commune will focus on developing agriculture along green, ecological, and circular directions, tied to value chains. Priority will also be given to expanding service industries to support production and local needs, while mobilizing and effectively managing investment resources to build, upgrade, and complete synchronized socio-economic infrastructure.

Before the merger, the former Dong Nai Province had 100% of its communes meeting advanced NRD standards, 37% achieving model status, five districts completing advanced rural development, and the former Xuan Loc District fulfilling the model rural development criteria under a central-level pilot program. These results met, and in some areas exceeded, the targets set by the resolution of the provincial Party Congress for the 2020–2025 term.

In the former Binh Phuoc province, after converting the NRD results of old administrative units into the new administrative structure, as guided by the Central Coordination Office on NRD, 32 communes continued to implement NRD. Among them, five communes had not yet met NRD standards, 25 communes had achieved NRD, two communes had achieved advanced NRD, and none had yet achieved model NRD. 

Nguyen Van Thang, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment and Acting Chief of the Provincial Coordination Office on NRD, noted: “NRD for the 2026-2030 period will be carried out in the context of Dong Nai having just completed the transition to a two-tier local government structure and having wrapped up 15 years of implementing the National Target Program (2010–2025). In the time ahead, Dong Nai will continue to closely align with the national goals and orientations for new-style rural development for the 2026–2030 period; focus on maintaining and consolidating the criteria already achieved; and, at the same time, prioritize production development to raise incomes for residents, considered the key factor in building a modern and sustainable rural development model."

By Dao Dung, Vu Thuyen - Translated by Thuc Oanh, Minho