Hanoi’s Advanced Rural Standards: Driving Comprehensive and Sustainable Growth

The Hanoi New Rural Development Program has brought about profound and comprehensive changes in people’s lives, culture, economy and social security.

Hanoi’s social and economic infrastructure has been comprehensively upgraded

This achievement not only enables Hanoi to complete its city-level targets for new rural development ahead of schedule but also gradually forms modern, civilized rural areas, thus laying a solid foundation for sustainable and inclusive development in the future.

People are beneficiaries

In 2022, former Ba Vi district (now restructured into eight communes) achieved new rural development standards two years earlier than planned. Ms. Dinh Thi Phuong, a local resident, shared her joy: Before the new rural development program, our roads were mainly rocky and dirt paths, which made travel difficult during rainy weather. When the program started, everyone actively supported it by donating land and labor for road construction. Now traffic and travelling are easier, and people’s livelihoods have improved.”

Former Thuong Tin district (now restructured into four communes) was accredited as meeting advanced new rural development standards in 2024. All the communes have now met new rural development standards. The communes also fulfilled all nine criteria of an “advanced new rural area” under the Prime Minister’s Decision 320/QD-TTg. These nine criteria include planning, transportation, irrigation and disaster prevention, electricity, education - health - culture, production - employment - income, environment, security and order, and management and leadership of new rural development.

Thuong Tin reaches the advanced new rural finish line

According to the Hanoi Coordination Office of the New Rural Development Program, from 2021 to date, Hanoi has had 200 communes certified to meet advanced new rural development standards, 109 communes recognized to fulfill model new rural development standards (exceeding the original target). The average income of a rural resident in Hanoi was nearly VND75 million in 2024 and the city had no remaining poor households.

These results have not only helped Hanoi fulfill the goals stated in Program 04-CTr/TU of the Hanoi Party Committee on “Promoting effective implementation of the National Target Program on New Rural Development in association with agricultural restructuring, rural economic development, and material and spiritual life improvement of farmers for the 2021-2025 period” but also made significant contributions to enhancing the material and spiritual life of farmers.

Thanks to achievements in advanced new rural development, Hanoi’s social and economic infrastructure has been comprehensively upgraded to strengthen urban-rural connectivity. Roads, schools, clinics and cultural facilities have been invested and upgraded to meet people’s needs and continuously enhance their living standards. Nguyen Van Anh, a resident of Phu Dong commune, said: “The advanced new rural development program has brought us many benefits. Especially, the upgraded inter-hamlet roads have eased travel.”

Building sustainable rural areas

From the outset of its advanced new rural development efforts, Hanoi clearly defined that this was not only about a process of perfecting infrastructure and improving material well-being, but also a journey toward sustainable development tied to cultural preservation, environmental protection and community governance. Thus, alongside infrastructure upgrading, localities have prioritized environmental protection, cultural heritage, security and order, and digital transformation.

To sustain and further raise the quality of advanced new rural development and work toward model new rural areas in the wake of reorganizing commune-level administrative boundaries and establishing a two-tier local government model, Hanoi will continue to issue guiding documents and policies to support and encourage localities to innovate production models and develop the green, smart and circular rural economy.

Hanoi People's Committee has chosen Duong Xa commune, Gia Lam district to build a pilot model of smart new rural areas.

According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dai, Director of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Environment, to create momentum for sustainable development, Hanoi is promoting decentralization and empowering communes while strengthening supervision and evaluation of the real quality of advanced criteria. “Advanced rural development is not just about meeting given targets but also about improving quality of life for residents and building livable, sustainable rural areas,” he affirmed.

With concerted efforts from the political system, the consensus of the people, and the support of the business community, Hanoi is steadily realizing the goal of becoming a “civilized, cultured and modern” metropolis. In this journey, rural areas continue to serve as a pillar of sustainable development, making positive contributions to the progress of the millennial capital.

By Minh Ngoc, Vietnam Business Forum