For economic development purposes

The National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development (SEDP) for Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas (EMMA) Phase 1 from 2021-2025, approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1719/QD-TTg dated October 14, 2021 (EMMA 1719), is a major policy for the comprehensive development of EMMAs. Under the direction of the Government, the Ethnic Committee and ministries and branches, Phu Tho province has made efforts to implement, gradually remove difficulties and obstacles, and accelerate the disbursement of capital to implement EMMA 1719.

Accelerating the disbursement of capital from the National Target Program 1719 creates motivation for ethnic minorities and mountainous people in the province, including Thanh Son district, to preserve, conserve and promote traditional cultural values.

"Obstacles" to disbursement progress

Looking back at more than half of the first phase, the implementation of this important policy in the province has brought about remarkable initial results. The program has contributed to changing the face of ethnic minority and mountainous areas in terms of socio-economic infrastructure, people's awareness, qualifications and production capacity. People in ethnic minority and mountainous areas of the province are aware of taking care of their personal and family lives, the economy is developing, income from production and business activities is increasing, regional cultural characteristics continue to be promoted and maintained, and the value of life is increasingly enhanced. The poverty rate is lower every year than the previous year, the economic, cultural and social gap between ethnic minority and mountainous areas and other regions is increasingly narrowing. Some bright spots have appeared in socio-economic development, cultural preservation and development in the area.

However, in the process of implementing the Fatherland Front Program 1719, there are still many difficulties and obstacles affecting the progress of capital disbursement. From 2022 to the end of 2024, the central budget capital to implement the Program is nearly 720 billion VND, of which nearly 200 billion VND has been disbursed. It can be seen that the progress of capital disbursement is still slow, affecting the results of implementing the Program 1719.

The slow disbursement of capital from the Vietnam Fatherland Front Program 1719 in the province is due to many reasons. First of all, it is due to difficulties and obstacles in the implementation guidance mechanism. The program has been implemented for 3 years, but up to now, the guidance mechanism still has some problematic contents that have not been specifically and clearly resolved. From the practical implementation of projects, sub-projects, and component contents, there are many arising problems that are not included in the guidance of central ministries and branches. Some provisions of the Bidding Law with lengthy procedural processes have affected the progress of implementation of projects, sub-projects, and component contents. In addition, the mechanism for allocating public funds for the Program is still inadequate, not allocating the total budget for the entire period of 2021-2025, but allocating annual details for each project and content, making it very difficult for localities to implement and balance the allocation of counterpart funds.

In addition, the specific conditions and difficulties in the implementation process in localities have also slowed down the disbursement progress of the Program's capital. In fact, the beneficiaries of some projects and components of the Program overlap or have received support from other programs and policies, so when the capital is allocated, there is a shortage or there are no beneficiaries to disburse according to the plan. In addition, some district-level units in the process of reviewing and identifying beneficiaries are still inaccurate; determining the demand for development investment capital is not consistent with the implementation practice... causing difficulties in disbursing capital.

Comrade Do Thi Phuong Hoa - Head of the Ethnic Affairs Department of Thanh Son district shared: "Up to now, there are no regulations on the demarcation of mountainous, midland, mountainous and plain communes, causing great difficulties for the district in the process of organizing the implementation of a number of policies related to regulations on areas. Collecting information and determining ethnic minority and mountainous areas is difficult due to the lack of specific expenditures from the central statistical system to the grassroots level... causing difficulties in implementing the contents and projects of the Program, slowing down the progress of capital disbursement".

Slow disbursement of capital under the National Target Program 1719 has caused the progress of project and sub-project implementation to not meet the plan, requiring provinces, sectors and localities to continue to closely follow the direction and guidance of superiors, and based on the actual situation, gradually remove difficulties.

Implement rural infrastructure construction projects from the National Target Program 1719 capital source in Yen Lap district.

Efforts to overcome difficulties

To speed up the progress, bring resources into life soon, create momentum for socio-economic development for ethnic minority and mountainous areas, many solutions have been implemented by the province. The province has issued complete and timely directive documents for relevant sectors and localities to organize implementation. Along with that, the provincial Ethnic Committee has been directed to develop and issue guiding documents, conduct field surveys to grasp the difficulties and obstacles, promptly work with localities to remove difficulties to ensure that policies are implemented to the right beneficiaries, not to miss any beneficiaries. The provincial People's Committee has also organized conferences to evaluate and give opinions on resolving difficulties and obstacles in implementing the Fatherland Front Program 1719 in the area...

In particular, the timely implementation of Resolution 111/2024/QH15 of the National Assembly dated January 18, 2024 on a number of specific mechanisms and policies to implement national target programs through the Provincial People's Committee reporting and advising the Provincial People's Council to issue a resolution to adjust capital sources has helped to remove many difficulties and speed up the disbursement of capital sources.

Speeding up the disbursement of capital to effectively implement the Program's projects, the province focuses on completing the development and issuance of directive, management and implementation guidance documents to ensure compliance with regulations and in accordance with the actual situation of the locality. Investment is focused, key and sustainable in order of priority according to the locality and beneficiaries, based on the need to solve the most urgent problems of each program regarding socio-economic infrastructure and activities to meet production needs in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

The Provincial Ethnic Committee continues to advise on the effective implementation of the Resolutions of the Provincial People's Council, the directives and management documents of the Provincial People's Committee related to ethnic affairs. Comrade Truong Tien Quan - Deputy Head of the Provincial Ethnic Committee said: "The Committee continues to strengthen the monitoring and grasping of the situation in the ethnic minority and mountainous areas, promptly providing information and reports on ethnic affairs, policies to resolve arising issues within its authority, in conjunction with recommendations to competent authorities to remove and resolve difficulties and obstacles in the implementation of ethnic programs, projects and policies. Promote propaganda, attract and mobilize ethnic people to participate in the implementation of programs and projects...".

The province also proposed that the Central Government, relevant ministries and branches promptly amend and supplement Decision 1719/QD-TTg so that localities can organize and implement projects, sub-projects and component contents more conveniently. At the same time, promptly review, amend, supplement and replace decisions, decrees and circulars to ensure that the system of legal documents "clearly addresses the subjects, contents, norms and payment procedures, and is suitable for actual conditions" to implement projects and sub-projects of the above Program. In order to remove difficulties and obstacles so that localities have sufficient basis for implementation.

Le Oanh

Source: https://baophutho.vn/vi-muc-tieu-phat-trien-kinh-te-xa-hoi-vung-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-227753.htm