Monday, December 27, 2010

Central Highlands see positive socio-economic changes

The Central Highlands Steering Committee held a conference in Buon Ma Thuot, Dak Lak province on December 27 to review ten years of implementing the political bureau’s resolution on socio-economic development and national defence and security in the Central Highland region in the 2001-2010 period.

Over the past ten years, localities in the central highlands have achieved impressive results in socio-economic development. The average income per capita in the region increased remarkably from VND2.9 million in 2001 to VND15.5 million in 2010 (making up 67 percent of the nation’s average rate with economic growth rate reaching 11.9 percent per year.

In the reviewed period, the Central Highlands upgraded to two first-tier urban areas, and established two cities and four towns. Infrastructure in both urban and rural areas in the region improved. 91 percent of communes possessed roads leading to the centre while 98 percent of hamlets had access to the national grid. All communes have primary schools, kindergarten, and health stations. Five provinces in the region have completed compulsory high school education.

Vocational training and job generation also gained positive results with nearly 1 million recruited workers including more than 180,000 ethnic minority people. The unemployment in urban area dropped to 2.51 percent. Nearly 111,000 households escaped poverty. The proportion of poor households fell to just 10.34 percent. In the ethnic minority group alone, the rate of poor households dropped sharply from 47.8 percent in 2006 to 19.9 percent in 2010.

Delegates also pointed out some shortcomings in the region. For example, socio-economic infrastructure in the region remains low while the quality of human resources has not been improved. While the rate of poor households decreased sharply, the rate of households fall into poverty again remained high. Over 11,000 households have had enough land for production.

Deputy Head of the steering committee, Tran Viet Hung said poverty reduction and hunger elimination for ethnic minority groups remained an urgent task for the region. Therefore, he said it is necessary to improve infrastructure in the region.

No comments:

Post a Comment