Ethnic Minority Farmers await Resettlement Area Competition

A meeting on May 15 heard that a total of 19,908 families containing more than 89,000 ethnic people involved in nomadic slash and burn farming had been resettled in the past seven years, just 67% of the original target. It was told that at the end of 2014, provinces nationwide had completed marking off 43 of the 44 areas designed for resettlement. A total of 119 of the planned 252 infrastructure projects had been completed and sedentary farming areas set aside. The meeting was also told that 86% of the investment earmarked for the work had been disbursed. The meeting acknowledged that some resettlement projects had problems as a number of people were put into resettlement areas but had not been given homes to live in or land to cultivate. It heard that the amount of funding allocated to these projects was not enough and was one of the main reasons for the predicament. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, who gave instructions on resolving the problems and urged the acceleration of these projects. It came after the National Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs in collaboration with ministries and Government departments made visits to 11 provinces. (Vietnam News May 25 p3)