From that practical reality, the Điện Biên provincial New-style Rural Development Criteria Set for the 2026-2030 period was constructed toward commune grouping, easing pressure on difficult areas and creating conditions for localities to exploit potential and fulfill new-style rural development targets.

During the 2021-2025 period, a key “bottleneck” of the new-style rural development program was applying a uniform set of criteria across all communes, despite vast development disparities among localities. Many highland and border communes faced fragmented terrain, scattered populations, high poverty rates, and limited investment resources, making simultaneous fulfillment of income, transport, clean water, and environmental criteria extremely difficult.

To unblock difficulties based on the National New-style Rural Development Criteria Set, on July 15, 2026, the provincial People’s Committee issued Decision No.55/QĐ-UBND stipulating the Criteria Set for communes achieving new-style rural development standards and modern new-style rural development standards for the 2026-2030 period. The Criteria Set comprises 10 criteria, with each criterion divided into 3 commune groups (Group 1, Group 2, Group 3), representing a breakthrough that ended the “one criteria set for all communes” approach. Group 1 communes comprise those adjacent to existing urban areas with urban development orientations, communes with agricultural economic ratios under 10%, or communes oriented as new urban centers. Group 2 communes encompass those not belonging to Group 1 or Group 3. Group 3 communes represent Area II and Area III communes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

Instead of applying a common “baseline,” each commune group is assigned criterion levels matching practical reality, ensuring rural quality elevation goals are maintained while establishing a more feasible implementation roadmap. This new approach helps difficult-area localities reduce pressure to fulfill targets exceeding their capabilities, while concentrating resources on core criteria.

For instance, multidimensional poverty rates for Group 1 communes must not exceed 2%, Group 2 communes must not exceed 5%, and Group 3 communes must not exceed 13%. Clean water criteria are also constructed flexibly, requiring Group 1 communes to have at least 80% of households using clean water, Group 2 communes reaching from 70%, and Group 3 communes from 40%, serving as an adjustment suited to Điện Biên’s practical conditions.

Beyond unblocking “bottlenecks” from the previous period, the new criteria set opens orientations for modern rural development. For the first time, science-technology and digital transformation criteria are established as distinct requirements, encompassing dossier digitization, electronic work processing, providing 100% online public services in agriculture and environment sectors, alongside building smart village models where each commune must feature at least one smart village model to build a foundation for residents to gradually access digital services and narrow regional development gaps.

Concurrently, the province built a modern new-style rural commune criteria set carrying distinct local imprints, featuring 6 criteria with 16 indicators. Accordingly, communes must guarantee 100% of villages and hamlets feature high-speed fixed or mobile broadband coverage, public points offer free Wi-Fi or internet signals, and commune headquarters, schools, and health stations install renewable energy systems. The criteria set also encourages smart agriculture by requiring each commune to feature at least one model applying science, technology, and digital transformation in production.

Parallel with digital transformation, environmental criteria were elevated toward green and sustainable directions. Communes must guarantee that at least 80% of domestic solid waste is sorted, collected, and treated, livestock waste and agricultural byproducts are collected and recycled at 90% or higher, and a minimum of 50% of domestic wastewater is collected and treated through appropriate measures.

Practical reality across highland communes shows that slow progress stems not from lack of determination, but mainly from natural conditions, infrastructure, and investment resources. Grouping communes alongside adjusting indicators flexibly will help localities construct more suitable roadmaps rather than chasing a uniform criteria set. For example, Mường Chà commune aims to basically reach new-style rural standards by 2030, with 45% of villages reaching new-style rural village standards, average income reaching around 40 million VND per person per year, and 100% of rural residents using hygienic water.

According to Nguyễn Hữu Đại, Chairman of the Mường Chà commune People’s Committee, grouping communes based on development conditions helps the locality construct plans and allocate resources more conveniently, noting that whereas many criteria previously exceeded execution capacities, indicators are now adjusted closer to reality, enabling the locality to focus investment on essential criteria such as transport, clean water, production development, income elevation, and environmental protection to complete criteria sustainably.

Similarly, in 2026, Thanh Nưa commune strives to achieve new-style rural standards. Through review, the commune met 7 out of 10 criteria, with 3 remaining unmet criteria encompassing socio-economic infrastructure, culture, education, health, and rural environment and landscape. Executing the new criteria set, the locality built implementation roadmaps for each unmet criterion while prioritizing integrated resources to invest in essential infrastructure, boosting production restructuring, elevating income, improving the environment, and promoting public roles in new-style rural construction.

Following the merger of two-tier local governance, the entire province currently holds no communes meeting new-style rural standards, with only 3 communes eligible for re-recognition. In 2026, Điện Biên sets targets for 5 communes to achieve new-style rural standards, including Tuần Giáo, Mường Ảng, Mường Phăng, Thanh An, and Thanh Nưa. By 2030, the province strives to have 60% of communes meeting and basically meeting new-style rural standards, a high goal for the province, but also an important driver for all levels, sectors, and localities to rise up and exploit existing potential and advantages.

With the 2026-2030 New-style Rural Development Criteria Set tailored to the practical conditions of each commune group, localities can identify correct investment priorities, utilize resources efficiently, and elevate program sustainability. More importantly, the commune grouping approach will contribute to narrowing development gaps among regions, creating momentum for Điện Biên’s rural areas to develop sustainably.