About 300 ethnic minority households in the central coastal province of Ninh Thuan have been resettled since 2008 under a plan on farming and residential resettlement adopted by the Prime Minister in 2007. Of them, 70 households have lived together in a centralized resettlement area while 230 others were relocated in residential areas near communal centers that enabled them to benefit from modern life convenience such as electricity, school, and healthcare services. Some 70 households were provided with farming land to develop production. According to Vice Chairman of the provincial Committee for Ethnic Affairs Le Thanh Hung, the resettlement has greatly helped improve the living standards of the tribesmen and contributed to eliminating huger and reduce poverty in the province. In the meantime, efforts are being made to put another centralized resettlement area, which is reserved for other 116 ethnic minority households, in place in Lap La hamlet, Lam Son commune, Ninh Son district in 2015. However, poor infrastructure as well as old-fashioned perceptions and habits of ethnic minorities have caused a slowness in the work. (vietnamplus.vn Aug 12)
