Hanoi (VNA) – Visitor꧂s to Dan Phuong, a suburbandistrict of Hanoi capital city, are sure to be impressed by village roads linedwith flowers of all colours and houses with number plates, which are a rare sightin rural areas in Vietnam.

Aiming to build a new-style rural area with its owncharacteristics, Dan Phuong authorities have launched a plan to name its roads,number houses, erect traffic signs and build “flower roads” throughout the district. The plan was carried out by the district’s Ho Chi MinhCommunist Youth Union (HCM CYU). After more than one year, the union has built41 “flower roads”, planted 1,300 trees and painted murals on houses along1.84km of roads. The Hung road in Dong Khe village, Dan Phuong commune hastaken on a completely new face thanks to the local youth’s work. The walls ofhouses have been painted with lively pictures, while the names of alleys androads and houses’ numbers are shown clearly on plates, making it easier forvisitors to find their way around. Secretary of the commune’s HCM CYU Nguyen Huu Sinh said theunion’s members have joined local officials in conducting surveys, making listsof houses, collecting opinions on names of roads and persuading local residentsto support the work. Bui Van Tu, a resident in Dai village, said he passes throughRoad May 19 every day. He shared that in the past, his relatives or friendsoften struggled to find his house when wanting to make a visit, because therewas no specific address, just his name and the name of the village. Things havebecome much easier since each road in the village is designated a name. Youth union members have also led the campaign of plantingflowers and ornamental trees in public space, especially in places prone tolitter. Local roads are decorated with flowers blooming in small boxes in rows orplastic bottles hung on walls, creating an eye-catching sight. “The local roads are much cleaner and beautiful,” saidNguyen Thi Hanh Nam, a resident in Dan Phuong commune. She added that seeingyoung people planting flowers and attaching number plates on house, localresidents are motivated to join them. They eagerly help with watering theplants and removing grass to keep the flowers grow well. As of now, all 15 communes in Dan Phuong district havebasically completed the numbering of local houses. A total of 378 roads and2,729 lanes and alleys have been given names, while 74 roads with a totallength of nearly 14.3 km have been decorated with flowers and murals. All thework has been done with the contribution of different sectors, to which thelocal HCM CYU organisation and members have played an important part. Secretary of the district’s Ho Chi Minh Communist YouthUnion Vu Dinh Tuan said in the time ahead, the union will keep up efforts tomaintain the roads. Youth union members will also hold regular activities toclean up the roads, remove illegal advertisements on walls and stop littering,towards making Dan Phuong a model rural district.

Among the criteria for model new-style rural areas in 2018-2020 approved inJune this year, one of which requires that at least 60 percent of roads in the localityshould have water drainage ditches, with trees and flowers planted along.

The locality must have some forms of environmental protectionorganisations such as cooperatives, groups or clubs operating regularly incollecting waste, cleaning up the environment and carrying out communicationactivities on the environment.

Model rural areas are the new goal in the National Target Programme onNew-style Rural Area Building in the 2018-2020 period in order to improvequality and efficiency of the programme.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Develop💧ment said this year it willconcentrate on improving production and environmental conditions of ruralcommunes.-VNA