A corner of Soc Trang city (Photo: VNA)Soc Trang (VNA) – The living standardsof Khmer ethnic people in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang have beenimproved in recent years thanks to the Party and State’s investment policies todevelop the region.
Soc Trang has the largest number of Khmer peoplein the country with more than 400,000, making up 31 percent of the provincialpopulation.
In 2017, the province helped more than 5,000Khmer families escape poverty, reducing the ratio of poor Khmer households to17.95 percent. About 96.5 percent of Khmer households now have access to hygienicwater while nearly 100 percent have electricity.
Soc Trang has nine boarding schools for ethnicminorities and 159 Vietnamese-Khmer bilingual schools with nearly 146,800students.
Deputy head of the provincial department ofethnic affairs Ly Soc Kha said the quick reduction of poor Khmer households wasattributed to the implementation of the Party and State’s policies to supportinvestment in building infrastructure, transferring technology and helpinglocals develop animal husbandry.
In 2017, the government invested more than 100billion VND (4.4 million USD) to develop the Khmer ethnic region by providingpolicies to support land for accommodation and production, change jobs, buildelectricity and water supply facilities, and help dozens of Khmer householdsaccess loans.
Notably, Programme 135, which was launched in1998, has helped raise living standards of people in remote and mountainousareas, Kha said.
In 2017, Soc Trang supported nearly 60 billionVND for disadvantaged Khmer communes to build roads, irrigation systems andcommunity houses as well as develop production and expand poverty reductionmodels.
Mai Thanh Cau, Chairman of the People’sCommittee of Thanh Phu commune, said thanks to the Party and State’s ethnicpolicies, especially Programme 135, local lives have changed for the better.
The programme has assisted rural residents inbuilding houses, roads and irrigation facilities and adopting effectivebusiness models, he added.
Head of the Soc Trang department for ethnicaffairs Ly Binh Cang said the government has approved total investment of morethan 490 billion VND for Soc Trang to support accommodation and production landand water supply for poor Khmer households in the locality in 2018.-VNA
VNA
