Laws of Vietnam

The distribution of population must also be based on the general plan for transport development and linked to the plan for development of raw material areas; In the border areas, special attention must be paid to linking the population distribution with the security and defense task.

In 1996, the Commission for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas shall assume the main responsibility and coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches in completing the elaboration of the program on the establishment of clusters of communes aimed at building 500 such clusters by the year 2000.

- To build infrastructure to meet the need of socio-economic development.

To upgrade the existing roads and build new roads are the most important task; to settle the question of water supply for production and daily life to ensure the supply of clean water for 60% of the population of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas by the year 2000, as well as sufficient water for daily life of the frontier posts; to quickly build big water works and reservoirs in the areas of industrial trees; to build a number of hydro-electric power stations to serve economic development, the protection of the ecological environment, balancing the water resources and the flood control projects; to expand, by the year 2000, the national electricity grid to provincial and district towns and commune clusters to ensure that 60% of the communes shall be supplied with electricity; by the year 2000, to have basically completed the construction of boarding schools for ethnic minority pupils in provinces and districts and semi-boarding schools in communes; to set up medical centers in districts, polyclinic consulting centers for commune clusters; to build radio and television broadcasting stations in districts and commune clusters, establishing telephone lines between communes and frontier posts.

- Regarding the production restructuring: Each locality must exploit all its potentials and advantages to promote socio-economic development at a quick pace with high efficiency and sustainability; to speed up the process of transforming the economic structure in regions of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas by strongly boosting the commodity economy, quickly increasing the industrial and service proportions and gradually reducing agricultural and forestry proportions in the GDP.

The population planning and distribution, the improvement of infrastructure and the production restructuring in the regions of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas are important strategic tasks which must be performed by both the State and people. The Prime Minister requests the Commission for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas to coordinate with the ministries, branches and localities in promptly organizing the implementation of this Directive.- (Summary)