Decision No. 253/2005/QĐ-TTg Approving the Plan for Economic and Social Development and National Defense and Security in the Western Region of Thanh Hoa Province until 2010

DECISION OF THE PRIME MINISTER

Approving the Project on Socio-Economic Development and National Defense, Security in the Western Region of Thanh Hoa Province until 2010

an ninh miền Tây tỉnh Thanh Hóa đến năm 2010

PRIME MINISTER

 

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to Resolution No. 37/NQ-TW dated July 1, 2004 of the Politburo on the Direction for Socio-Economic Development and National Defense, Security in the Midland and Mountainous Northern Region until 2010;

Considering the proposal of the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa Province at Proposal No. 3287/TTr-UB dated August 16, 2005 regarding the request for approval of the Project on Socio-Economic Development and National Defense, Security in the Western Region of Thanh Hoa Province until 2010; and the proposal of the Ministry of Planning and Investment at Circular No. 6914/BKH-KTĐP dated October 7, 2005,

DECISION:

Article 1. Approves the Project on Socio-Economic Development and National Defense, Security in the Western Region of Thanh Hoa Province until 2010 with the main contents as follows:

1. Development Goals until 2010.

To lift the western region of Thanh Hoa Province out of underdevelopment; improve the material and spiritual life of ethnic groups, especially those in remote and border areas; combat social evils, ensure good national defense and security along the border, and guarantee sustainable environmental protection.

2. Development Directions until 2010.

- Accelerate the pace of sustainable economic development based on promoting structural transformation, exploiting comparative advantages of the region to create breakthroughs in agricultural, forestry, industrial production, and expanding service activities.

- While accelerating economic growth, also address social issues effectively, eradicate hunger, reduce poverty, improve people's living standards, gradually narrow the gap in living standards between highland and lowland mountainous areas, and between mountainous and plain regions. Preserve and promote ethnic cultural identity, combat social evils.

- Concentrate resources for investment in building economic and social infrastructure, transportation, irrigation, electricity, telecommunications, schools, health stations, hospitals, cultural, sports facilities, and urban infrastructure in mountainous areas, prioritizing transportation and irrigation development to drive economic and social progress.

- Promote socio-economic development alongside strengthening national defense and security, enhancing solidarity among ethnic groups, maintaining political stability, and cooperating to build a stable and comprehensive border line with Laos.

3. Main Indicators until 2010.

a) On Economy:

- Annual economic growth rate increases by 15% or more, including: agriculture, forestry, aquaculture by 9.0%; industry-construction by 26.3%; services by 15.1%.

- The structure of agricultural-industrial-service sectors in GDP in 2010 is 37.7% - 31.5% - 30.8%.

- Average income per capita: 9.3 million VND.

- Average food consumption per capita: 348 kg/year (province-wide: 420 kg/year).

- Value of exported goods: 50 million USD.

b) On Culture-Society:

- Reduce natural population growth rate to 1%/year. Population size by 2010 is approximately 1,105,000 people.

- Reduce poverty rate below 25%.

- 100% of districts meet the standard for universal secondary education.

- 100% of communes have health stations, 60% of health stations have doctors.

- Reduce malnutrition rate among children under 5 years old to about 28%.

- Lower infant mortality rate under 1 year old to 23%.

- Television coverage reaches 95% of the population and radio coverage reaches 100% of the population.

- 70% of families meet the criteria for civilized families.

- Labor force training rate 25%.

c) On Infrastructure:

- 100% of communes have roads accessible by automobiles to their centers, 90% of rural roads are passable all year round.

- 100% of internal canal systems and inter-commune canals are reinforced.

- 100% of communes have electricity, 90% of households use electricity.

- 100% of communes have telephones, achieving a ratio of 5.6 phones per 100 people.

- Eliminate temporary thatched classrooms, 80% of classrooms are reinforced.

- 80% of the population use clean water.

4. Development Directions for Industries and Fields.

a) Developing Economic and Social Infrastructure.

- Transportation:

Focus resources on developing transportation routes combining economic development with national defense:

+ Upgrade National Highway 45, 47, 217 with a total length of 192 km.

+ Construct a road connecting the western mountainous districts of Thanh Hoa Province: the main route is 183 km long passing through Quan Hoa, Mua Lat, Quan Son, Lang Chanh, Thuan Xuan districts and 8 cross routes totaling 227 km, including:

. Mua Lat - Chieng Nu,

. Van Mai - Ta Buc,

. Ten Tan - Cang Border Gate,

. Lang Chanh - Yen Khuong,

. Yen Khuong - Meng Border Gate,

. Thuan Xuan - Bat Mot,

. Bat Mot - Khieu Border Gate,

. Yen Cat - Thanh Quan - Bu Cam.

+ Invest in upgrading National Highway 15A from Ngoc Lac to Van Mai (86 km) to develop economic exchanges with Northwest provinces and connect with Nghi Son deep-water port.

+ Construct an East-West traffic corridor: Thanh Hoa - Huaphan - Myanmar (passing through Ten Tan border gate, Mua Lat district).

+ Upgrade and complete provincial roads to meet standards IV, V, VI, passing through expanded market towns according to planning; upgrade 8 provincial roads totaling 520 km.

+ Invest in constructing roads to 14 communes without automobile access, totaling 306 km. Ensure 100% of rural roads have surfaces of crushed stone or better, 90% are passable all year round.

+ Invest in constructing border patrol roads and economic-social development corridors totaling about 650 km in 5 border districts: Mua Lat, Quan Son, Quan Hoa, Thuan Xuan, Lang Chanh.

+ Gradually invest in bus station systems in mountainous districts.

- Irrigation:

+ Speed up the implementation of the Cua Dat reservoir irrigation and hydropower project (including the irrigation channel system).

+ Invest in new and upgrade some key irrigation projects such as:

. Improve and upgrade 600 reservoirs and dams providing water for difficult areas.

. Irrigation system for Quan Son, Quan Hoa, and Ba Thuoc districts.

. Flood control and coexistence project in Buou River area, Thach Thanh district.

. Headwater project of Muoc River.

. Irrigation project for sugar cane in Thach Thanh, Nhu Thanh districts.

+ Reinforce 605 km of internal canal systems and inter-commune canals.

- Clean Water Supply, Electricity, and Telecommunications:

Invest in eight water supply systems for eight district centers and 590 clean water facilities for village communities. Strive to have 80% of the population in the region using hygienic water by 2010.

+ Complete the planning for the development of power grids in mountainous areas, increase the capacity of transformer stations; develop 35KV and 22KV grids following 110KV substations to communes with suitable conditions; accelerate investment in power grids according to the principle "where roads reach, national power grids follow." Strive to have 100% of communes electrified for daily life and production by 2010.

Complete construction of the Bản Uôn hydroelectric plant (Quan Hoa district), Lo River hydroelectric plant (Quan Son district), Chàng River hydroelectric plant (Như Xuân district) and other medium and small hydroelectric projects.

Invest in optical cable lines to highland districts such as Muong Lat, cover mobile phone signals in all district centers, key economic development areas, industrial-commercial-service zones.

- Develop urban systems and industrial zones:

Construct the Ngoc Lac urban area to become the center of western Thanh Hoa province and a gateway for economic exchange with neighboring provinces (via Highway 14). Invest in transportation and drainage systems in the central area of the Ngoc Lac urban area.

By 2010, form an additional central urban area in Dong Tam (Ba Thuoc district) and develop new urban areas along Highway 14 such as:

Bai Tranh urban area (Như Xuân district) serves as a key economic link connecting Nghi Son port with Northwest Vietnam and the Lower Mekong subregion.

Thach Quang urban area (Thach Thanh district) is an industrial-tourism urban area.

Develop additional market towns such as Van Du (Thach Thanh district); Cam Thanh (Cam Thuy district); Ten Tan (Muong Lat district); Na Meo (Quan Son district); Hien Kiet (Quan Hoa district); Pho Dong, Dien Lu (Ba Thuoc district); Yen Cuong (Lang Chan district); Pho Chau (Ngoc Lac district); Khe Ha, Cuu Dat (Thuong Xuan district); Xuan Quy (Như Xuân district); Can Khe, Ben En (Như Thanh district)... Develop market towns along Highway 14 and rural settlements connected with agricultural markets in mountainous districts.

Focus on conditions for developing industrial zones linked with urban development in Thach Quang - Thach Thanh, Bai Tranh - Như Xuân, Pho Cong - Ngoc Lac.

Form and develop industrial zones and clusters in districts like Nhuan Thanh, Ba Thuoc, Cam Thuy, Thuong Xuan, and some small industrial clusters in other districts to attract labor from rural areas, implement industrialization and modernization of agriculture and rural areas.

b) Develop agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.

Agriculture: Promote structural transformation in agricultural production, apply technological progress to increase the yield of cash crops and strongly develop large-scale livestock farming, increasing the proportion of livestock in the value of agricultural production. The total value of agricultural, forestry, and fishery production will reach 36.3 billion VND (1994 price comparison basis) by 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 9.2%.

Food production: Implement intensive cultivation, apply advanced rice varieties in areas with active irrigation to increase rice yields in low mountainous districts. For high mountainous districts: only increase food crop areas in places where small water reservoirs can be built, gradually convert water-deficient paddy fields to corn, soybeans, fruit trees, minimize deforestation for shifting cultivation. By 2010, strive for an annual rice yield of 4.5 tons/hectare, and a food production volume exceeding 380,000 tons.

Cash crops: Stabilize the area of raw material crops, focus on intensive cultivation, increase productivity, meet raw material needs for processing industries. Specifically:

Sugarcane: 26,150 hectares, focus on intensive cultivation, apply new varieties, increase productivity to provide sufficient raw materials for sugar factories, including:

Lam Son sugarcane area (concentrated in Ngoc Lac and Thuong Xuan districts): 10,800 hectares, production 724,000 tons.

Northern sugarcane area (concentrated in Thach Thanh and Cam Thuy districts): 10,600 hectares, production 682,000 tons.

Western-Southern sugarcane area (concentrated in Như Xuân and Nhuan Thanh districts): 4,750 hectares, production 295,000 tons.

Cassava (concentrated in Ba Thuoc and Như Xuân districts): 7,000 hectares, production 175,000 tons.

Pineapple (concentrated in Nhuan Thanh district): annual planting area 1,000 hectares, production 25,000-30,000 tons.

Peanuts: increase area from 3,250 hectares to 4,000 hectares, production 6,600 tons.

Soybeans: develop to reach 3,400 hectares by 2010, production 5,220 tons.

Long-term cash crops: concentrate on developing rubber trees, with a rubber tree area reaching 10,000 hectares or more by 2010, including newly planted rubber trees of 2,600 hectares or more, concentrated in districts like Nhuan Thanh, Ngoc Lac, Thach Thanh, Cam Thuy. Dry rubber latex production will reach 5,000-6,000 tons.

+ Livestock:

Strongly develop large-scale livestock farming, implement measures to rapidly increase cattle and buffalo herds, achieving breakthroughs in both quantity and quality; encourage the development of farm-based livestock raising, forming concentrated livestock-raising areas with commercial products, increasing the proportion of livestock in the value of agricultural production to 35% or more.

By 2010, the buffalo herd will reach 170,000 heads, with an average annual increase of 14.8%, including 68,000 crossbred buffaloes, accounting for 40% of the total herd; the cattle herd: 200,000 heads, with an average annual increase of 4.5%; pig herd: 490,000 heads, with an average annual increase of 6%. Strongly develop dairy cow herds among the people.

Forestry:

Continue to reform forest management mechanisms, encourage the development of various types of forests, especially productive forests, paper raw material areas, and other raw material areas for wood processing. Properly implement forest assignment schemes suitable for each community, effectively protect existing forest areas, create jobs, and gradually stabilize people's lives, contributing to poverty reduction.

. Review and adjust the planning for three types of forests, including determining the area of special-use forests and protective forests with appropriate scale, strictly protecting vulnerable protective forests; expanding and increasing the area of production forests. By 2010, the forest area will reach 527,856 hectares, of which: protective forests: 201,718 hectares; special-use forests: 72,157 hectares; production forests: 253,963 hectares, forest coverage rate reaching 61.5% (the entire province is 53%). The expected volume of products harvested from forests is approximately 45,000 to 50,000 cubic meters of wood, 18 to 20 million bamboo plants, paper raw material 250,000 tons.

. Plan and build a paper raw material area with a scale of 173,000 hectares in seven districts (Muong Lat, Quan Son, Quan Hoa, Ba Thuoc, Lang Chanh, Ngoc Lac, and Cam Thuy) to serve the Chau Loc paper factory with a capacity of 60,000 tons of pulp per year.

. Develop a proposal for the development of upstream protective forests along the Ma River with a mechanism where the state ensures food supplies for the people so that they can protect and develop the forests.

- Aquaculture: make full use of traditional fish ponds, cage farming, and convert some low-yield rice areas to fish farming combined with rice cultivation; strive to achieve an aquaculture area of 3,500 hectares and a production volume of 7,770 tons of various fish.

c) Develop industry and construction.

Strive to reach a value of industrial and construction production of 5,870 billion VND by 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 27%. Focus on developing advantageous industries such as building materials production, mineral extraction and processing, agricultural and forestry product processing linked to raw material development; develop industrial clusters linked to urban development along Highway 14 at Thach Quang (Thach Thanh), Bai Tran (Nhu Xuan), and Pho Cong (Ngoc Lac). Specifically:

- Processing industry for agricultural and forestry products:

+ Consolidate existing production facilities, invest in pineapple concentrate production lines at the Nhu Thanh pineapple processing plant, and fully utilize the capacity of the Viet Dai sugar factory at 90,000 tons of product per year, and cassava processing plants.

+ Build a new rubber latex processing plant with a capacity of 3,000 tons of dry rubber per year.

+ Construct a bamboo flooring plant in Thanh Xuan with a capacity of 100,000 square meters per year.

+ Develop processing facilities for agricultural products directly serving ethnic minorities such as rice milling, corn grinding, tofu processing, animal feed production...

- Building materials production industry:

+ Construct a new Ngoc Lac cement plant with a capacity of 1.4 million tons per year.

+ Build a Ngoc Lac fired clay brick plant with a capacity of 25 million bricks per year; a non-fired brick plant with a capacity of 20 million bricks per year in Ba Thuoc; a fibrocement roofing sheet plant with a capacity of 1 million square meters per year in Ngoc Lac (note: implement according to Decision No. 133/2004/QD-TTg dated July 20, 2004 of the Prime Minister); an exportable stone slab plant with a capacity of 500,000 square meters per year in Lang Chanh, Ngoc Lac.²/năm tại Lang Chánh, Ngọc Lặc.

- Power and hydropower industry: conduct research on the planning for the development of cascade hydropower on rivers belonging to the Ma and Chu river systems and other rivers.

+ Complete the construction of the Cu Da hydropower plant with a capacity of 97 MW.

+ Construct the Ban Uon hydropower plant with a capacity of 280 MW.

+ Construct the Song Lo hydropower plant with a capacity of 92 MW.

+ Construct several small hydropower plants such as Suoi Bom (4.5 MW), Sao Luong (3.5 MW), Song Chang (3 MW), Tam Lu (7 MW)...

- Mining and mineral processing industry:

+ Construct an iron ore mining and processing plant in Nhu Xuan - Nhu Thanh with a capacity of 72,000 tons per year; a kaolin processing plant in Lang Chanh with a capacity of 200,000 tons per year; a light filler production plant in Cam Thuy with a capacity of 40,000 tons per year; a microbial fertilizer production plant in Ngoc Lac and Thach Thanh with a capacity of 20,000 tons per year.

- Construct a Van Du (Thach Thanh) garment export factory with a capacity of 500,000 products per year; a Ngoc Lac garment export factory with a capacity of 1 million products per year.

- Vigorously develop rural small-scale and handicraft industries such as hand-woven textiles, small mechanical workshops producing tools and farm implements, mechanical repair and spare parts production for transportation vehicles; simultaneously introduce other industries.

d) Develop service sectors.

By 2010, the value of service production will reach 2,410 billion VND, with an average annual growth rate of 15.7%.

- The value of exported goods will reach 50 million USD. Major export groups include:

+ Agricultural and forestry products: reaching 27 million USD (sugar, cassava starch, rubber, tea, bamboo flooring, wood products, bamboo chopsticks, other forest specialties, livestock meat...).

+ Mineral and building materials: reaching 13 million USD (stone slabs, cement, various ores...).

+ Industry and small-scale handicrafts: reaching 10 million USD (garment manufacturing, woven bamboo and rattan products, fine arts and crafts...).

- Commerce: effectively exploit the rural market network, construct new and reinforce some markets according to the planning of programs and projects. Encourage the development and strengthen the management of private trade, form a sales network through retail stores and trading points, ensure policy goods for ethnic minority groups, gradually create changes in circulation, meeting the requirements of commodity transactions in mountainous areas.

+ Continue to transform and improve the efficiency of service cooperatives, ensuring quality inputs and good product sales for farmers.

- Tourism: invest in infrastructure development, exploit tourism resources with scenic spots such as Ben En National Park, Cam Luong Fish Spring, Cu Da Lake, natural conservation areas Pu Hu, Pu Long, combining with cultural preservation and development activities characteristic of ethnic minorities in Thanh Hoa to develop eco-tourism and cultural tourism.

- Accelerate investment in constructing the Na Meo border economic zone (Quan Son district) commensurate with the international border gate. Upgrade the Ten Tan border gate (Muong Lat district) to a national border gate, open a line of economic and cultural exchange with northern Laos.

- Promote passenger and cargo transport services, telecommunications and banking credit services; vigorously develop people's credit organizations, creating conditions for credit funds to reach residential areas, helping economic entities and the public borrow funds for production development, poverty reduction.

đ) Develop cultural and social fields.

- Education and training:

+ Consolidate and strengthen the results of universal primary education for children of appropriate age, intensify the implementation of universal lower secondary education in mountainous districts, striving to achieve 100% of mountainous communes meeting the standards for universal lower secondary education by 2010.

+ Ensure sufficient quantity and structure of teachers at all levels and fields; 100% of teachers meet the standard qualifications, including 20% above the standard, with 80% of teachers being from mountainous districts.

+ Enhance investment in material infrastructure, build kindergartens and general schools towards national standard schools, by 2010, on the territory of 11 mountainous districts, 30% of schools will reach the national standard, 80% of classrooms will be reinforced. Invest in housing for teachers in particularly difficult highland communes.

+ Continue to invest in completing the material infrastructure and teaching equipment for ethnic minority boarding schools at district and provincial levels to meet the requirements of both cultural education and vocational training for children of ethnic minorities. + Focus on building and completing the technical school in Ngoc Lac.

+ Invest in upgrading the continuing education centers of mountainous districts; expand the community learning center network in communes, establish some vocational training centers at the district level.

- Health - health care for the people:

+ Complete the investment in the regional general hospital in Ngoc Lac with a capacity of 400 beds.

+ Strengthen investment in material infrastructure for district health centers, upgrade hospitals in highland border districts Muong Lat, Quan Son and 10 regional multi-purpose clinics, 157 commune health stations.

. Ensure that 100% of communes have health stations, 60% of health stations have doctors working; 70% of communes meet the national standard for health, 100% of hamlets have health workers operating. Build county-level preventive health centers.

. Implement national health programs well to reduce the rate of malnutrition among children to 28%; the malaria infection rate decreases by 10% per year, the goiter infection rate decreases by 1.5% per year, improve public health, increase life expectancy.

- Labor - employment and social issues:

+ Promote skill transfer in rural areas, raise the labor time utilization rate in rural areas to 85%; shift the labor structure towards reducing the proportion of agricultural labor, increasing participation in industrial and service sectors. Strive for 25% of the workforce to be trained.

+ Continue to invest in strengthening essential infrastructure projects in communes, develop production and create more jobs, improve the living standards of residents, alleviate poverty, striving to reduce the poverty rate below 25% by 2010 (according to new criteria).

+ Build social education-labor centers (5-6) in the mountainous region.

- Culture - information, radio and television:

+ Ensure the quality and broadcasting duration of radio and television, expand coverage to highland and border regions; strengthen broadcasting in ethnic languages; achieve 95% population coverage for television and 100% population coverage for radio.

. Construct a radio and television broadcasting station in Ky Tan - Ba Thuoc to expand coverage in the mountainous region and build several radio and television relay stations in Muong Lat, Quan Hoa, Quan Son counties to serve the mountainous ethnic groups.

+ Annually launch the construction of 100 cultural villages.

+ By 2010, 70% of families meet the criteria for cultural families; 100% of communes have legal bookcases, books on disseminating agricultural, forestry, and aquaculture techniques. 100% of communes have postal and cultural points.

. Construct six new county-level cultural and sports centers, upgrade five existing sports centers, integrate sports activities into regular daily routines in offices and schools.

5. Ensure solid national defense and security.

- Closely combine economic and social development with enhanced national defense and security, especially border security. Implement the construction of the Muong Lat economic-defense zone, while studying the construction of several economic-defense zones in other border counties to ensure the stability of the national border.

- Accelerate investment in building the Na Meo border gate economic zone into an economic exchange gateway with Houaphanh Province (Lao People's Democratic Republic) and upgrade the Ten Tan border gate.

- Construct border patrol routes to ensure mobility when situations arise and combine economic and social development.

- Upgrade the material infrastructure for existing border guard posts and reinforce additional border guard posts along the border line, construct additional border markers to maintain border security.

- Do well in settlement work, stabilize free migrants, create conditions for the people to stabilize their long-term lives; plan and establish resettlement projects for 15 border communes, implement the relocation of some hamlets and villages to the border area to maintain the border line, promote economic development, and build a peaceful and friendly border.

- Strengthen legal education and propaganda work, enhance vigilance awareness, proactively prevent, mobilize the people to struggle against every trick of hostile forces and illegal proselytism among ethnic minorities.

6. Build the political system and cadre teams at all levels to meet the requirements of tasks.

- Pay attention to the work of building and consolidating the political system at all levels to be clean and strong, considering this as a decisive factor in achieving the successful goals of economic and social development and ensuring security and national defense in the mountainous region.

- Train and improve the competence of local cadre teams, by 2010 ensure 100% of key cadres in mountainous districts meet the standard, 100% of specialized cadres have a college degree or higher.

- Vigorously train and improve the competence of grassroots cadres in the mountainous region, ensuring that responsible positions (Party Secretary, Deputy Party Secretary, Standing Member of the Party Committee, Chairman, Deputy Chairman of the People's Council and People's Committee of communes and towns) have a high school graduation qualification, a college degree or higher in professional qualifications, and have been trained in political theory and state management; commune and town-level cadres and civil servants have a junior high school graduation qualification and a college degree or higher in professional qualifications.

+ Train to achieve high school graduation for 1,149 cadres.

Advanced professional training:

Intermediate level: 2,396 officials.

Bachelor's level: 100 officials.

Political theory training:

Intermediate level: 641 officials.

Bachelor's level: 107 officials.

Training and development in state management: 1,878 officials.

7. Capital for investment and development:

To achieve the objectives and tasks of the project, the total capital demand for key projects over five years (2005-2010) is 22,480 billion VND, including:

- Central government support funds (including ODA funds): 10,090 billion VND.

- Local budget mobilization: 1,030 billion VND.

- Corporate funds (including FDI) and community funds: 11,360 billion VND.

(Annexed is a list of specific projects.)

8. Main solutions:

a) Reviewing, adjusting, supplementing, and developing planning frameworks to serve economic and social development, ensuring national defense and security in the western region of Thanh Hoa province:

- Focus on directing the completion and approval of the following plans:

+ Economic and social development plan for the mountainous region of Thanh Hoa province until 2015, with a vision to 2020.

+ Urban planning for Ngoc Lac town and the development plan for the urban system in the western region.

b) Reviewing, supplementing, and developing policies to encourage production and business in the western region:

Review, supplement, and develop certain mechanisms and policies to encourage production and business in the western region of Thanh Hoa province, focusing on the following main areas:

- Policies to encourage investment in the western region of Thanh Hoa province.

- Policies to encourage industrial and small-scale industrial development.

- Policies to encourage the development of concentrated cash crop areas.

- Policies to encourage livestock farming and farm economy development.

- Mechanisms and policies to encourage new planting, forest enclosure, and forest protection.

- Mechanisms and policies to encourage rural infrastructure development in mountainous areas.

- Policies regarding human resource training and utilization.

- Mechanisms and policies to promote socialization of educational, health, cultural, and sports activities.

c) Reforming production relations, strongly mobilizing resources from various economic sectors for development investment:

- Effectively implementing the policy of allocating land and forests in accordance with the actual needs of the province, ensuring that land has a clear purpose, improving land use efficiency.

- Vigorously developing household economies, farm economies, cooperative economies, while strengthening the role of state-owned enterprises; developing public service enterprises to ensure adequate and timely supply of materials, goods, and product sales for farmers. Organize the effective implementation of the reorganization of state-owned forestry and agricultural farms according to Resolution No. 28/NQ-TW dated June 26, 2003 of the Politburo, to truly become centers for promoting scientific and technological guidance, driving the development of midland and mountainous economies.

- Creating a favorable environment and conditions to attract projects funded by central government support (including ODA funds).

- Reviewing and supplementing mechanisms and policies to encourage the mobilization of all resources to build transportation infrastructure, irrigation facilities, school buildings, and medical clinics based on the principle of "state and people working together." Encourage various forms of investment, joint ventures, and collaborations with domestic and foreign organizations to develop production and business, particularly in the processing of agricultural and forest products.

- Prioritize infrastructure investment in key areas, border regions, raw material zones, and regions with potential for development to attract investors. Improve the effectiveness of investment fund usage, emphasize the responsibility of project sponsors, and establish a reasonable investment structure to facilitate rapid and sustainable economic restructuring.

d) Concentrating on enhancing the quality of human resources:

- Strengthen recruitment and training of cadres for the western region, especially county-level specialized cadres, village-level cadres, and ethnic minority cadres in highland areas. Develop plans to teach ethnic languages to cadres working in ethnic regions.

- Promote local training through supplementary education classes, state management training programs, and political theory training to accelerate cadre training for mountainous grassroots levels.

- Implement the reserve cadre system and selective recruitment to rapidly increase the number of specialized cadres in mountainous areas, especially those who know ethnic languages; pay attention to cadres working in agriculture promotion, forestry promotion, education and training, and healthcare fields.

- Develop policies and systems to attract and utilize cadres to serve economic and social development in the western region, especially at the grassroots level.

đ) Building political systems at all levels and strengthening grassroots administrative bodies:

- Continue implementing the movement to build and consolidate the Party, improve the quality of political systems at all levels, especially at the grassroots commune and village levels, closely linked with building comprehensive strong and secure communes and villages. Focus on directing to eliminate villages without party members in mountainous areas.

- Enhance the division of responsibilities and decentralization to local authorities at all levels, coupled with strengthening discipline and rules in leadership and management. Emphasize individual responsibility, awareness of discipline among cadres and civil servants, and strictly handle cadres and civil servants who have degenerated and violated discipline.

- Intensify legal education among the people so that all strata understand their rights and obligations as citizens and actively participate in administrative construction and regime protection.

- Fully leverage the role of village elders and village chiefs, provide allowances to village elders and chiefs to encourage them to effectively mobilize people to implement Party and State policies, ensuring border area security.

Article 2. The People's Committee of Thanh Hoa Province is assigned

1. To establish a Steering Committee to implement the project, headed by a member of the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa Province to direct its implementation.

2. To continue detailing the goals and directions for the development of industries and sectors into specific programs and projects to implement the project, ensuring the achievement of set goals.

3. Cooperate with central ministries and sectors to study and propose to the Prime Minister the issuance of special mechanisms and policies to support the province in accelerating the development of economic and social infrastructure in the western region of Thanh Hoa province, creating favorable conditions and encouraging various economic components to invest in production, business, and services in the western region of Thanh Hoa province.

4. Continue to intensify administrative reform, creating a favorable environment to encourage various economic components, domestic and foreign investors to invest in the western region of Thanh Hoa province.

Focus on directing the allocation of investment funds from the state budget in a concentrated manner, according to priority order, to implement synchronously and ensure the effectiveness of investment capital.

5. Vigorously promote the training of human resources for the western region, considering this a key aspect with long-term strategic significance for the development of the region. Focus on directing to enhance the effectiveness of operations of local authorities at all levels.

Article 3. Ministries, agencies equivalent to ministries, and government agencies shall, based on their functions and responsibilities, be responsible for coordinating with the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province to concretize the project on Economic and Social Development and National Defense and Security Assurance in the Western Region of Thanh Hoa Province until 2010 through investment programs and projects on the provincial territory.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance shall coordinate with the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province to study and submit to the Prime Minister for the issuance of special mechanisms and policies to support Thanh Hoa province in accelerating the development of economic and social infrastructure in the western region of Thanh Hoa, ensuring that the western region of Thanh Hoa has conditions for development equal to other regions across the country.

Article 4. This Decision takes effect fifteen days after its publication in the Official Gazette; the Chairman of the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province, ministers, heads of agencies equivalent to ministries, and heads of government agencies under the Prime Minister are responsible for implementing this Decision./.