LookAtVietnam – Poor households in the capital will receive some financial relief with VND200 billion set aside by the Ha Noi People’s Committee.

Poverty-stricken households in outer Ha Noi will receive some financial relief as set aside by the Ha Noi People’s Committee.

An additional VND34 billion ($1.8 million) will be allocated for supporting farmers whose land has been reclaimed due to planning procedures.

The rest will be spent assisting labourers who have lost jobs due to the economic crisis by further offering loan capital for the municipal job generation fund and organising more job centres.

The committee has assigned the municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to consider monthly financial assistance and hold vocational training courses for the poor.

The department has been asked to give vocational training centres with a monthly VND300,000-1.2 million ($15-65) sponsorship.

The department said they would actively co-ordinate with authorities of the city’s poorest districts, namely Chuong My, My Duc, Quoc Oai, Ba Vi, Ung Hoa and Thach That, in assisting farmers with capital, production facilities and breeding centres.

Head of the department Nguyen Dinh Duc said that the plan would help the city reach the target of reducing the number of poor households, making up 8.43 per cent the city’s households, to 6.49 per cent this year.

“The biggest obstacle for farmers and the unemployed is capital,” he said. “Once they have financial assistance, I believe they will effectively spend it overcoming poverty.”

As the department has reported, there are nearly 118,000 poor households with around 406,000 people throughout the city’s 29 districts.

On another move to support the poor, the department has been allocated a financial assistance for moving homeless people off the streets into social protection centres or back to families.

“We have no idea how much the work would totally cost as it depends on the number of homeless people for which we haven’t got the exact statistic,” Duc said.

“However, no matter how much it costs, we have to comprehensively resolve the issue.”

According to Duc, the department is waiting for the People’s Committee’s approval to establish two ad hoc groups specialising on the issue.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News