Decision No. 310/QD-TTg of April 17, 2000 ratifying the overall project on development of defense- economic zone of Muong Cha, Lai Chau province

DECISION

RATIFYING THE OVERALL PROJECT ON DEVELOPMENT OF DEFENSE- ECONOMIC ZONE OF MUONG CHA, LAI CHAU PROVINCE

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;
Pursuant to the Investment and Construction Management Regulation issued together with the Government’s Decree No.52/1999/ND-CP of July 8, 1999;
Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No.277/2000/QD-TTg of March 31, 2000 approving the overall scheme on the army’s participation in the socio-economic construction and development of extremely difficult, deep-lying and remote communes in combination with the building of defense and security zones in strategic border and coastal areas;
At the proposals of the Ministry of Defense (Report No.2997/QP of October 15, 1999) and the Ministry of Planning and Investment (Report No.1171-BKH/VPTD of March 2, 2000),

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To ratify the overall project on development of defense-economic zone of Muong Cha, Lai Chau province with the following major contents:

1. The project’s name: Development of defense- economic zone of Muong Cha, Lai Chau province.

2. The project managing agency: The Ministry of Defense.

3. The investor: The Command of Military Zone No.2, the Ministry of Defense.

4. The project implementation duration: 10 years, from 2000 to 2009.

5. Objectives:

a/ To boost the socio-economic development, contributing to raising the ethnic minority people�s living standards in combination with the maintenance of national defense and security on the basis of settling population according to the production plan and long-term defense and security objectives of forming clusters of border villages and communes, creating a border belt in the defense disposition of the entire people safeguarding the Fatherland.

b/ To realize the sedentarization, receive people migrating from other regions for socio-economic development in association with job generation as well as hunger elimination and poverty alleviation for family households in the project area.

c/ To exploit to the utmost the allotted land so as to organize production along the line of developing the commodity economy with industrial trees, fruit trees, husbandry, forest planting and protection; to ensure that people have stable income sources, thus contributing to the building of border communes with economic, cultural and social development.

d/ To protect the environment, maintain the ecological balance through planting, zoning and protecting forests, and using natural resources in a sustainable and reasonable manner.

6. Location and land:

a/ Location: The project’s objectives shall be realized in the entire project area, encompassing 5 border communes: Cha Nua, Cha Cang and Si Pa Phin of Muong Lay district, and Muong Toong and Muong Nhe of Muong Te district, Lai Chau province.

b/ Land: The total project area is 222,177 ha; the project construction area is 12,072 ha.

7. Investment contents:

- Grade-6 motor roads in mountainous region and rural traffic roads of 2.5 m wide;

- Suspension bridge for pedestrians;

- Building and upgrading irrigation projects;

- Rural clean water projects;

- Building dwelling houses, working offices, infirmaries and concentrated production areas (plant nurseries, cattle ranching areas) of Group 379;

- Planting tea and other industrial trees;

- Planting forests (including rare and precious trees like fokienia hodginsii, ironwood, teak...) and zoning forests for protection;

- Building tea- and bio-fertilizer- processing establishments;

- Supporting family households (including the local households and immigrant households) to stabilize their life;

- Allotting forestrial and agricultural land and managing the project.

8. The total investment capital is 198,504 million dong.

This total investment capital shall serve as basis for elaboration of specific investment projects to be submitted to the competent authorities for ratification according to the current regulations on investment and construction management.

9. Capital sources and investment mechanism

a/ Budget capital:

- To build infrastructure, including roads, suspension bridges, irrigation projects, schools, medical stations, market places, daily-life water supply system, power supply network, communication system for people in the project area, as well as dwelling houses, working offices and infirmaries for Group 379; to allot land and manage the project.

- To reclaim virgin land for field building, provide perennial saplings for the first time, build breed stations and render support for people to stabilize their life.

- To plant forests (with rare and precious trees) and zone forests for protection in compliance with the Prime Minister’s Decision No.661/QD-TTg of July 29, 1998 on the objectives, tasks, policy and organization of implementation of the 5 million hectares -afforestation project.

b/ The State’s investment credit loan capital: To plant tea, build tea processing establishments, plant economic forests and other medicinal plants.

c/ The investment projects shall have to comply with the current investment and construction management regulations and bidding regulations. Projects capitalized at less than 1,000 million dong (of which the budget capital is under 500 million dong) shall comply with the provisions of Joint Circular No.416/1999/TTLT/BKH-UBDTMN-TC-XD of April 29, 1999 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Construction and the Commission on Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas, guiding the investment and construction management of infrastructure projects in the extremely difficult mountainous, deep-lying and remote communes.

d/ This project is to be implemented in the most difficult area with socio-economic underdevelopment and low intellectual standards, which, however, occupies strategically crucial defense position, where free migrants have since 1997 come from other provinces to earn their living, thus making the local political situation more complicated. It is a must, therefore, to create a special mechanism for management and allocation of capital to the local projects. The Finance Ministry shall guide the capital allocation and management suited to the projects.

Article 2.- Organization of implementation

1. The Ministry of Defense is assigned:

- To direct the investor to coordinate with the People’s Committee of Lai Chau province in elaborating specific projects to avoid the overlapping investment of the national programs, with priority given, first of all, to urgent projects in service of the material and spiritual life of people of ethnic minorities and armymen stationing therein, such as infirmaries, schools, daily-life water supply system, irrigation works and necessary material bases for Group 379 (Muong Cha Group) to station in the 5 project communes, as well as traffic roads in service of armymen and people, which shall be submitted to the competent authority for ratification according to current regulations.

- To set up the project Steering Board, which is composed of a leader of Military Zone No.2 as its head and leaders of the People’s Committee of Lai Chau province, leaders of the provincial services, departments and branches and leaders of the district People’s Committees in the project area as its members, so as to coordinate and direct the project implementation, ensuring the centralism, uniformity and democracy.

- To mobilize on-the-spot labor forces in the course of building projects, contributing to the job settlement and increasing incomes of ethnic minority people.

- To coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the concerned ministries and branches and the People’s Committee of Lai Chau province in assisting and guiding ethnic minority people in the production techniques, education, health care and training of commune cadres as well as village elders and chiefs, thus helping them manage and run production in their localities.

2. Depending on the concrete conditions of each region, to organize production in suitable forms:

- The army builds the socio-economic infrastructure and allots land to people for production organization;

- The army organizes enterprises to allot land to people for production and enterprises to provide technical services and supplies for production, product consumption and processing of agricultural products;

- The army directly engages in production in difficult areas where people cannot themselves organize the production and management.

Article 3.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing.

Article 4.- The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the president of the People’s Committee of Lai Chau province shall have to implement this Decision.