To realize the project on providing residential and production land as well as safe water supply for ethnic minorities in extremely disadvantaged villages, in 2015, the central province of Binh Dinh is giving priority to those who do not have production land, followed by those who lack residential land.

So far the policy has undergone two phases with a capital investment of nearly VND95 billion. The first from 2005 to 2008, witnessed the provision of 4.82 hectares of residential land for 452 families, 74.5 hectares of production land for 174 families and the building of 58 concentrated safe water provision constructions. The second phase which lasted from 2009 to 2014, over 190 hectares of residential land were given to 1,036 families and over 4,100 families received production land while water supply was facilitated across 23 key locations.

The 2009-2014 period also saw a disbursement of over VND1.8 trillion of investment in rural and mountainous areas of the province. The capital, taken from other important programs, including the program on boosting socio-economic development in extremely disadvantaged ethnic minority communes; the program on giving land and safe water to ethnic minorities in extremely disadvantaged regions; and the program on rapid and sustainable poverty reduction in poor districts, helped to provide water to irrigation systems to 90% of rice producing areas in highland and mountainous communes; build concrete roads to 100% of communes; provide access to the national grid for 94.3% of villages; build primary schools and medical stations in all the communes; and provide safe water to 90% of the population.

According to Truong Van Vinh, Deputy Head of the Provincial Board of Ethnic Minorities, thanks to the effective implementation of policies initiated for ethnic minorities, remarkable improvements have been recorded in the lives of those minorities, with poverty reduction being lowered by 4-5% annually and most notably, a profound increase in awareness of the groups on what actions are required to boost domestic economic development and those that are outdated and need removing, he said./.

( Compiled by VNF )