DECISION

ADDITIONALLY APPROVING THE SCHEME ON THE OVERALL PLANNING ON ECONOMIC-DEFENSE ZONES IN THE NEW SITUATION

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of December 25, 2001;
Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 135/1998/QD-TTg of July 31, 1998 approving the programs on socio-economic development in mountainous, deep-lying and remote communes meeting with exceptional difficulties;
Pursuant to the Regulation on Construction and Investment Management, issued together with the Government’s Decrees No. 52/1999/ND-CP of July 8, 1999 and No. 12/2000/ND-CP of May 5, 2000;
At the proposals of the Ministry of Defense (Official Dispatch No. 3859/BQP of December 7, 2001), the Ministry of Planning and Investment (Official Dispatch No. 201/BKH-QPAN of January 10, 2002), and the Ministry of Finance (Official Dispatch No. 1063/TC-DT of January 31, 2002) on the additional approval of the Scheme on the overall planning on economic-defense zones in the new situation,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To additionally approve the Scheme on the overall planning on economic-defense zones in the new situation with the following main contents:

1. The scheme’s name: The Scheme on the overall planning on economic-defense zones in the new situation.

2. Objectives: To boost socio-economic development in the project areas, contributing to step by step improving the people’s material and spiritual life in combination with ensuring national defense and security in strategic and border areas, on the basis of population relocation according to the production planning and long-term defense and security objectives, to formulate various clusters of border villages and communes, creating a border belt in the entire-people defense disposition to safeguard the Fatherland.

3. Tasks:

a) To build infrastructure in combination with population rearrangement:

- To build essential infrastructure: traffic roads, electricity, irrigation, clean water supply, schools, dispensaries, markets;

- To carry out the work of sedentarization, prepare for the resettlement of people in service of Son La hydro-electric power project;

- To stabilize the life of local people, including free migrants in the localities. To build up strong localities in terms of both defense-security and socio-economic development;

- To create conditions for relocating people from delta areas to the project areas for the materialization of two targets of hunger elimination and poverty alleviation as well as defense and security, thus changing the population structure of the project areas.

b) To create initial foundations for the development of commodity economy:

- To promote agricultural, forestry and fishery production;

- To provide two-way services, creating commodity economy on the basis of cooperative economy;

- To transfer technologies to local people;

- To create models and provide professional guidance;

- To create conditions for local people to participate in the construction of various works so as to earn incomes and have access to techniques;

- In the localities where conditions permit large-scale production but local people are incapable of making investment therein by themselves (for example: the Central Highlands, western South Vietnam and north western regions), the army shall directly organize the production in order to attract ethnic minority households and people from other places into State-run economic organizations.

c) To raise the people’s material and spiritual life:

- To propagate and agitate people to thoroughly grasp and strictly comply with the Party’s and State’s lines, strategies and policies; fight the enemies distorting and instigating ploys, as well as acts of illegally preaching religions.

- To introduce radio, television, cultural and medical services to villages and hamlets;

- To create conditions for ethnic minority children to go to school and participate in the programs on primary education universalization and illiteracy eradication;

- To provide healthcare and medical treatment to people;

- To foster and train the contingent of local cadres;

- On the basis of the improved living conditions, to restore, preserve and develop traditional cultures of the ethnic minority people.

4. Scale:

a) To continue investing in 12 economic-defense zones under the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 277/QD-TTg of March 31, 2000.

b) To make new investment in the following five economic-defense zone projects:

1. Song Ma economic-defense zone in the geographical areas of two provinces of Son La and Lai Chau, Military Region II;

2. Xin Man economic-defense zone, Ha Giang province, Military Region II;

3. Bat Xat economic-defense zone, Lao Cai province, Military Region II;

4. Ky Son economic-defense zone, Nghe An province, Military Region IV;

5. Tan Hong economic-defense zone, Dong Thap province, Military Region IX.

c) To make additional investment in expanding the following two economic-defense zones:

1. To expand southern Dak Lak-Binh Phuoc economic-defense zone, Corps 16, to additionally cover Ea Sup area, Dak Lak province.

2. To expand Muong Cha economic-defense zone, Lai Chau province, which shall cover three more communes of Sin Thau and Chung Chai of Muong Nhe rural district and Ta Tong of Muong Te rural district, Lai Chau province, Military Region II.

The Ministry of Defense shall direct the investors to formulate concrete investment projects and submit them to competent authorities for approval according to current regulations on investment and construction.

5. Capital sources and investment mechanism:

a) Budget capital: Annually, the State shall allocate capital from the budget for the construction of essential infrastructure works such as traffic roads, irrigation, electricity, daily-life water supply, medical stations, schools, central markets; plant nurseries and breeding farms of cluster or regional characters; establishments for scientific and technological transfer; training in agricultural, forestry and fishery promotion; teaching of ethnic minority languages in service of the mass agitation work; procurement of essential small-capacity equipment for economic-military troupes to assist local people in building small-sized irrigation works, inter-village roads, and land reclamation; and construction of barracks for economic-military troupes under each project already approved by competent authority.

Annually, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance shall, basing themselves on the plans of the new economic programs, reach agreement with the Ministry of Defense to further allocate an adequate capital amount for investment in specific and suitable projects and works, with priority given to the construction of a number of projects and works in important and key areas.

b) Credit capital:

- The State’s investment credit shall be granted according to current regulations on the State�s investment credit;

- For project areas or works with particular characteristics, which require the State�s support, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall report the cases to the Prime Minister for decision on the case-by-case basis.

c) To adopt appropriate policies to attract investment capital from organizations and individuals of all economic sectors for the projects or works in these zones.

d) To coordinate with localities for integration and efficient use of the capital of the projects and national-target programs in the localities.

e) Due to the urgent requirements of the hunger elimination and poverty alleviation as well as defense and security tasks, preparing for the resettlement of people in service Son La hydro-electric power project, the projects should be deployed simultaneously in different areas, depending on the capability to allocate investment capital annually, reserving priority investment capital for a number of key projects determined by the Minister of Defense.

f) The investment projects must be carried out strictly according to current regulations on the construction and investment management.

g) The Ministry of Finance shall provide guidance on the budget capital-allocating mechanism suitable to the characteristics of projects of these types, ensuring their smooth implementation as well as strict capital management.

Article 2.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing.

Article 3.- The Ministers of Defense; Planning and Investment; Foreign Affairs; Finance; Agriculture and Rural Development; Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs; and Science, Technology and Environment; the Director of the Commission for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Regions, the Vietnam State Bank Governor, the General Director of Land Administration, the presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces in the project areas and the heads of the concerned agencies shall have to implement this Decision.