Building livable rural areas

The achievements in new-style rural development (NRD) are not only reflected in the synchronized investment in transport infrastructure, but also in rural areas becoming truly livable places, with concrete and asphalt roads built all the way to village alleys.

Notably, the entire community joins hands to plant trees and flowers, take part in renovation efforts, care for and maintain green spaces, contributing to a more beautiful rural living environment.

Model road in Xuan Thanh commune. Photo: Binh Nguyen

As the year draws to a close, “Saturday Volunteer” and “Green Sunday” activities draw active participation from the entire community, who work together to plant and tend flowers and ornamental plants, and clean up the surroundings in preparation for Tet. Rural villages are truly becoming livable places, featuring scenic landscapes and clean, safe environments.

Proud to keep the countryside clean and beautiful

Visiting rural villages, especially model residential areas, visitors are struck by the vibrant spring atmosphere present everywhere – from radiant home gardens to model roads lined with green trees and layers of blooming flowers in full display. The space between houses, alleys, and along traffic routes is consistently kept clean and beautiful.

To create such impressive scenes, local communities in hamlets and villages were actively mobilized for a whole month before participating in environmental sanitation and the care of flowers and ornamental plants. This endeavor is not merely a year-end activity to prepare for Tet but a regularly maintained effort by residents across local areas.

In 2025, the implementation of new-style rural development (NRD) and socio-economic progress in rural areas across the province continued to receive focused attention, leadership, and coordinated execution, resulting in many comprehensive achievements. Under the National Target Programme on building new-style rural areas, the province disbursed over 264 billion VND in public investment capital while providing nearly 8.3 tons of cement to 18 communes to help meet infrastructure criteria. As a result, the total number of communes meeting new rural standards rose to 67 out of 72, including 25 communes meeting advanced NRD standards and 8 communes achieving model NRD status.

NGUYEN VAN THANG, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment

Despite the busy pace of year-end days, on weekends, a large number of residents in Lang Lon hamlet, Cam My commune, including youth, women, and elderly seniors, actively launched a campaign to clean and renovate shared spaces along the hamlet’s roads. Pham Thi Lien, Head of Lang Lon hamlet, Cam My commune, shared that the hamlet regularly organizes “Saturday Volunteer” and “Green Sunday” activities. Youth union members and young people are especially active in cleaning and caring for trees along model roads and within model residential areas. Other movements at both hamlet and commune levels have also received strong support from the local community, including contributions to flagpole construction and the installation of street lighting and security camera systems.

Taking us along the carefully maintained model roads lined with green trees and blooming ornamental flowers in celebration of Tet, Nguyen Thi Thanh, Secretary of the Gia Lao Hamlet Party Cell, Xuan Thanh commune, said: Years ago, the local government launched the 'Building Model Residential Areas' movement, which has since drawn enthusiastic participation from the entire community. Activities include keeping homes neat and beautiful and maintaining environmental hygiene across the whole neighborhood. To have flower-lined streets as we see today, residents gather on weekends for general cleanup efforts, flower planting, and landscape enhancement. While building a successful model residential area is already a challenge, maintaining a consistently clean and beautiful environment is even more demanding. Everyone contributes their part, planting and tending flower beds to ensure the rows of ornamental flowers remain vibrant and full of color.

Forming a civilized lifestyle

To date, many model villages, hamlets, and residential areas across the province have established a modern and civilized way of life. Bright-green-clean-beautiful roads and model residential areas continue to be expanded, contributing to the increasingly improved appearance of rural areas.

Farmers in the province visit a model of excellent production at the Tan Trieu specialty pomelo garden, Tan Trieu ward. Photo: Binh Nguyen

Notably, many new-style rural communes not only focus on enhancing environmental landscapes but also integrate efforts with the Emulation movement to build civilized, clean, and beautiful villages. Residents have fostered a village lifestyle rooted in civil habits, with the rural landscape kept clean and attractive from homes to alleys. Public awareness of maintaining environmental hygiene has improved. Model roads that are bright, green, clean, and beautiful continue to be replicated, with all trees and flowers planted, maintained, and protected by the people themselves.

From hamlets to communes, self-governing models for security and order are increasingly adopted, with active participation from all community members, including youth and women. These efforts contribute to the development of residential areas, communes, and wards that meet safety and public order standards.

Dong Nai province is not only focused on boosting economic development in rural areas but also on building villages that develop harmoniously in both economic and cultural terms. Distinctive cultural values of each region and locality are also preserved and promoted with care. These traditional values are clearly expressed in the way residents continue to uphold daily life rooted in the village’s long-standing customs and traditions. On every holiday and Tet, local authorities focus on organizing cultural, sports, and entertainment activities. Every spring, the village becomes lively with the sound of lion, unicorn, and dragon dance teams practicing, along with boat racing teams preparing for competition.

Currently, many rural areas are actively developing community-based tourism models that highlight each village's unique cultural identity, gradually turning them into new and appealing tourism products in Dong Nai.

Following the merger, Bu Gia Map in Dong Nai province is a remote, border commune where 75 percent of the population are ethnic minorities. Despite many hardships, the locality remains committed to promoting the distinctive aspects of indigenous culture in the context of building new-style rural areas.

Le Hoang Nam, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Council of Bu Gia Map commune, said the commune considers tourism and services a key economic sector with breakthrough potential for socio-economic development in the coming period. The commune is focusing on tapping into the potential of ecological, community-based, and agricultural tourism, in connection with the One Commune, One Product (OCOP) programme and the advantages of the border region. It not only prioritizes economic growth but also aligns this with the goals of forest resource conservation and the preservation and promotion of the cultural identity of indigenous ethnic groups.

By Binh Nguyen – Translated by Mai Nga, Minho