DAC LAC — Many ethnic minorities in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) Region are sleeping better, seeing better and just generally living better thanks to a multi-pronged effort by the government to raise living standards in the area.
This is largely because of Programme 168, which was launched in 2001 to provide health care, housing and arable land to ethnic minorities living in the region.
For example, under the five-year programme, the State has combined its financial resources with help from the community to build thousands of new homes for disadvantaged ethnic households in Tay Nguyen.
Under the programme, owners of dilapidated houses receive between VND 3 million and VND 5 million each to repair their houses. Those needing new houses receive between VND10 million and VND15 million.
Since 2001, 2,500 houses have been built in Lam Dong Province and 978 in Kon Tum Province. During the past two years, more than 7,000 ethnic minorities in Dac Lac, Gia Lai and Dac Nong have received new homes.
In another example of the programme’s success, thousands of elderly residents with poor eyesight are receiving operations for their eyes.
In Gia Lai, 1,800 people have received free eye operations since February of this year and another 1,956 will receive them in the remainder of this year.
One of the beneficiaries, KeSo Na of Chu Se, Gia Lai Province, can now tend to his coffee plants and catch fish the same as ordinary people because of his eye surgery.
"Before having the free eye surgery, some bad people said that the doctor would scoop out your eyes," he said "That did not happen."
The State has also been distributing farmland to the residents in an effort to help the region sustain itself.
In the past three years, 16,304 ha of land has been allocated to 35,442 households in Tay Nguyen with each ethnic household in the region now having access to an average of 1ha of cultivable land, according to deputy head of the Tay Nguyen Programme Steering Board, Mai Van Nam.
Programme 168, launched in 2001, is an indication of the Party and Government’s determination to help Tay Nguyen achieve sustainable and comprehensive development and bring about a better life to all ethnic groups living there. — VNS
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