VietNamNet Bridge – Poor ethnic minority people in the Mekong Delta can be entitled to housing and farming land to help them settle down, according to a draft of a Prime Minister’s decision.

Under the draft, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, all poor households of ethnic minority groups in the region will be given assistance to have residential and farming land in 2015.

The draft targets households who do not have residential land and are in difficulty but are not yet entitled to State supporting policies in terms of housing. Households who have no production land or have transferred their property assets before will also be subject to the draft.

Regarding residential land, relevant authorities will be instructed to allocate land based on residential land resources as well as the local budgets available. Provincial governments will consider and hand over land to households of minority groups in line with local conditions and customs.

Each household in need of housing will be provided an average VND25 million. Local authorities will build up technical infrastructure or develop concentrated residential areas for target people in their localities.

Regarding farming land, the draft rule discourages financial aid for poor ethnic minority people to buy land, but instead asks local authorities to repurchase or redeem areas that have earlier been transferred or mortgaged and reallocate the land to them.

Those localities that have ample public land will allocate farming land for needy households. Local authorities should also call for such households in the same area to voluntarily contribute land to set up production cooperatives.

As per the draft decision, the support for each household to acquire farmland will not exceed VND40 million, with VND20 million funded by the Central Budget and the remainder as an interest-free loan over a period of four years.

A recent report announced at a question and answer session of the National Assembly Standing Committee on September 13 showed that between 2002 and 2011, the number of households of ethnic minority groups in need of State policies to have farmland and residential land was over 550,000. Localities so far have given land support to over 230,000 households, with the remaining ones set to get support in 2012-2016.

VietNamNet/SGT