Decision No. 49/2008/QD-TTg Approving the Master Plan for Stabilizing Population in Border Communes between Vietnam and Laos in the Northern Midland and Mountainous Region until 2015

Pursuant to …;

Approving the Master Plan for Stabilizing Population in Border Communes of Vietnam-Laos in the Northern Midland and Mountainous Region until 2015

region of the Midland and Mountainous North to 2015

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PRIME MINISTER

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

Pursuant to Decision No. 79/2005/QĐ-TTg dated April 15, 2005 of the Prime Minister promulgating the Government's Action Program on Implementing Resolution No. 37/NQ-TW dated July 1, 2004 of the Politburo on Developing the Economy and Society and Ensuring National Defense and Security in the Northern Midland and Mountainous Region until 2010;

Considering the proposal of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development at the report No. 2721/TTr-BNN-HTX dated October 3, 2007, letter No. 25/BNN-HTX dated January 4, 2008, and the letter of the Minister of Planning and Investment at letter No. 894/BKH-TĐ&GĐT dated February 12, 2008,

DECISION:

Article 1. Approves the Master Plan for Stabilizing Population in Border Communes of Vietnam-Laos in the Northern Midland and Mountainous Region until 2015 with the main contents as follows:

1. Scope of the Plan

The scope of the plan includes 81 border communes of Vietnam-Laos in 19 districts of the provinces of Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Son La, and Dien Bien, including:

- Province of Dien Bien: 22 communes in 3 districts: Muong Nhe (7 communes), Muong Cha (6 communes), and Dien Bien (9 communes).

- Province of Son La: 17 communes in 5 districts: So Phoc (4 communes), Song Ma (4 communes), Muong Chau (4 communes), Mai Son (1 commune), and Yen Chau (4 communes).

- Province of Thanh Hoa: 15 communes in 5 districts: Muong Lat (6 communes), Quan Hoa (1 commune), Quan Son (6 communes), Lang Chanh (1 commune), and Thanh Xuan (1 commune).

- Province of Nghe An: 27 communes in 6 districts: Que Phong (4 communes), Tuong Duong (4 communes), Ky Son (11 communes), Con Cuong (2 communes), Anh Son (1 commune), and Thanh Chuong (5 communes).

Clause 2. Objectives

a) General Objective: By 2015, basically stabilize the population in border communes of Vietnam-Laos in the Northern Midland and Mountainous Region to exploit potential, develop economy and society, improve and enhance material and spiritual life for ethnic groups, address the issue of spontaneous migration, while ensuring the security of the border.

b) Specific Objectives:

- Stabilize in place 35,384 households in poverty in border communes; rearrange and stabilize 6,847 households, including: integrate into villages and hamlets 1,951 households, and relocate and settle concentratedly 4,896 households;

- Open up new land for agricultural production area of 14,300 hectares, including 1,740 hectares of paddy fields and terraced fields;

- Invest in building infrastructure, including: roads, irrigation, electricity, water supply, and public facilities to ensure stable living conditions and production development for people in villages and hamlets;

- Regarding the living standards of residents: average grain yield exceeds 330 kg/person; reduce the proportion of poor households from 53% to 20%; clean water usage rate 60-80%; electricity usage rate 60%; 100% of communes covered by radio and television broadcasting and 100% of hamlets have cultural community activity points, 100% of the population are cared for in terms of health, medical examination, and treatment.

3. Orientation of the Plan for Stabilizing Population

a) Plan for Stabilizing Population Along the Border Line

- Stabilize in place 35,384 households with 191,608 members in poverty;

- Stabilize 6,847 households through integration with existing communities or relocation to new communities, including: 3,927 households lacking agricultural land and water supply; 1,242 households in areas at risk of landslides and flash floods; 145 households in special-use forests and protective forests; 764 households for household separation; 475 households due to national defense needs; 159 households for land clearance for transportation and irrigation projects, and 135 households for other reasons;

- In addition to the aforementioned households, there will be about 3,923 households relocated for hydropower and irrigation projects within the planning area.

b) Agricultural and Forestry Development and Rural Industries

- Arrangement for agricultural production: 42,700 hectares of food crops, average grain yield over 330 kg/person; planting 2,100 hectares of fruit trees, 4,700 hectares of long-term industrial crops, 4,500 hectares of short-term industrial crops; developing livestock with 91,400 cattle, 89,500 buffalo, 323,800 pigs, over 1,500,000 poultry, 29,600 horses and goats;

- Arrangement for forestry production: 21,700 hectares of forest regeneration, 11,450 hectares of new plantations; forest coverage ratio reaching 55%;

- Development of rural industries, small-scale industries, and services: encourage the development of blacksmithing, casting, weaving of traditional fabrics, wood carving; build border markets; construct international border gates: Nam Can, Chieng Khang, Nam Meo; invest in restoring and renovating historical sites, scenic spots to develop tourism.

c) Investment in Building Infrastructure

- Road system: construct 1,675 km of new roads, upgrade 442 km of village and hamlet roads;

- Irrigation system: construct 380 irrigation works, 394 km of canals serving irrigation for 4,844 hectares;

- Community infrastructure: construct 44,180 m² of schools, 48 health stations with a total area of approximately 3,400 m²; 39,300 m² of cultural houses, village offices with 530 constructions; 20 border markets with an area of about 8,000 m²; 350 water supply facilities providing water to over 12,300 households; construct 5 TV stations in communes of Dien Bien province; construct 174 transformer substations, 1,975.5 km of 0.4 KV power lines, and 145 small generators.

4. Implementation Measures

a) Support Policies for Stabilizing Population and Developing Production

Support policies for stabilizing population and developing production shall be implemented according to Decision No. 160/2007/QĐ-TTg dated October 17, 2007 of the Prime Minister approving the Project on Developing Economy and Society in Border Communes of Vietnam-Laos and Vietnam-Cambodia until 2010 and other relevant current policies.

b) Science and Technology

- Supply crop and livestock seeds for production, prioritizing export-oriented varieties.

- Strengthen extension activities, introduce advanced techniques into production, establish multiple cropping models, specialty crop cultivation models, livestock breeding models, aquaculture models; apply science and technology in preserving agricultural products and food.

- Strengthen quarantine work for animals and plants.

c) Market and Product Consumption

- Develop the economy at border gates and border markets, build border gates to facilitate people's trade.

- Border trade cooperation, exchange of goods, and purchase and sale with the Lao People's Democratic Republic and other countries in the region.

- Implementing the policy on trade development as prescribed in Decree No. 20/1998/NĐ-CP dated March 31, 1998 of the Government on Developing Trade in Mountainous Areas, Coastal Islands, and Ethnic Minority Regions, and Decree No. 02/2002/NĐ-CP dated January 3, 2002 of the Government amending and supplementing certain articles of Decree No. 20/1998/NĐ-CP dated March 31, 1998 of the Government.

d) Training cadres, developing human resources, and enhancing literacy: organizing training courses for village cadres to guide ethnic groups in developing production; it is anticipated that by 2010, 15-20% of the labor force will be trained.

đ) National defense security

- Building a people's defense posture, forming a people's defense and security front along the entire border line firmly.

- Propaganda and education to encourage border residents to participate in managing the border.

- Mastering the border area, combating activities infringing upon national security.

- Establishing a border economic defense zone, developing border economic defense.

- Consolidating political bases in border villages.

e) Investment capital and sources of investment capital

- The total demand for investment capital is approximately 5,400.8 billion VND.

- Sources of investment capital: investment capital is integrated from existing programs and projects' funds on the local territory; targeted support capital from the central budget for investing in projects stabilizing the population in border communes between Vietnam and Laos amounts to 984 billion VND (accounting for 18.2% of the total investment capital demand).

Article 2. Implementation

1. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development:

a) Taking the lead in coordinating with relevant Ministries and sectors to guide the People's Committees of border provinces between Vietnam and Laos in the Northern Midland and Mountainous Region:

- Formulating plans for stabilizing the population in border communes of each province, establishing investment projects to submit for approval by competent authorities.

- Preparing plans for stabilizing the population over five years and annually to compile and submit to the Prime Minister for approval.

- Establishing models for stabilizing the population in border communes to draw lessons before implementing on a wider scale.

b) Taking the lead in coordinating with relevant Ministries and sectors and the People's Committees of provinces to review, adjust, and supplement planning when necessary.

c) Coordinating with the Ministry of Finance to study and adjust policies for stabilizing the population in border communes.

d) Inspecting, supervising, and evaluating the results of stabilizing the population in localities.

2. Ministry of Planning and Investment: taking the lead in coordinating with the Ministry of Finance to balance and allocate annual capital for provinces and participating Ministries and sectors based on consensus with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

3. Ministry of Finance:

a) Coordinating with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to allocate annual capital for localities and participating Ministries and sectors for projects under the Plan.

b) Taking the lead in coordinating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to guide management mechanisms, allocation, payment, and settlement of investment capital for projects.

4. Ministry of Defense: directing subordinate units to participate in guiding and assisting ethnic groups in production and stabilizing their lives; implementing the construction of border economic defense zones and ensuring border national defense.

5. Relevant Ministries and sectors: based on assigned functions and tasks, plan to coordinate with provincial People's Committees to effectively implement the contents of this Plan.

6. People's Committees of Son La, Dien Bien, Thanh Hoa, and Nghe An Provinces:

a) Directing and organizing the establishment, examination, and approval of the Plan for stabilizing the population in border communes of the province and investment projects according to regulations.

b) Preparing annual and phase budgets (2008-2015) for targeted support capital from the central budget for projects stabilizing the population in border communes between Vietnam and Laos, submitting them to the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Planning and Investment, and Finance for compilation and submission to the Prime Minister for approval.

c) Implementing the integration of funds from other programs and projects on the local territory with projects stabilizing the population in border communes between Vietnam and Laos.

d) Directing departments, agencies, and local authorities at all levels to closely cooperate with mass organizations in propaganda and mobilization to encourage residents to actively participate in implementing the Plan for stabilizing the population in border communes between Vietnam and Laos, and strengthening supervision and inspection of specific project implementation on the local territory to ensure investment effectiveness.

Article 3. This Decision shall take effect fifteen days after its publication in the Official Gazette.

Article 4. Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of agencies under the Government, and Chairmen of People's Committees of Dien Bien, Son La, Thanh Hoa, and Nghe An Provinces are responsible for implementing this Decision./.