Ministry of Home Affairs: Encourage the use of commune and ward names that existed before the merger

The Ministry of Home Affairs also proposed naming by serial number to facilitate the process of digitizing and updating information data. (Photo: VNA)

The Ministry of Home Affairs has just completed the submission and draft Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee on administrative unit arrangement and sent it to the Ministry of Justice for appraisal.

The draft's objective is to implement the arrangement of provincial and communal administrative units in a unified and synchronous manner, in line with the innovation of the organization and operation of local governments at two levels (provincial and grassroots levels, eliminating the district level); ensuring the completion of the arrangement of provincial and communal administrative units before June 30, 2025.

Principles of forming new administrative units

Implementing the Politburo's conclusions on "merging some provincial-level units, not organizing the district level, merging some commune-level units," the draft Resolution stipulates the criteria for arranging provincial-level and commune-level administrative units in the direction of closely following the 6 criteria that have been considered and agreed upon by the Politburo, including: Natural area; population size; criteria on history, tradition, culture, religion, ethnicity; criteria on geo-economics (including criteria on geographical location, scale and level of economic development); criteria on geopolitics; criteria on national defense and security.

The Ministry of Home Affairs proposed to determine natural area and population size according to Resolution No. 1211 of 2016 of the National Assembly Standing Committee (amended and supplemented in 2022) to ensure consistency in classifying administrative units.

The draft resolution also stipulates the principles for arranging administrative units with many new contents. Specifically, if two provinces merge, the administrative unit after the merger will still be called a province. In case a province merges into a centrally-run city, the unit after the merger will be identified as a centrally-run city.

For commune level, if wards are arranged with each other or with administrative units of the same level, the unit after arrangement will still be the ward. In case communes and towns are rearranged, the administrative unit after consolidation will be the commune.

According to the draft, when the arrangement of commune-level administrative units leads to changes in district-level administrative boundaries, these units will not have to meet the conditions and standards and will not need to carry out the procedures for adjusting district-level administrative boundaries.

To facilitate the process of arranging administrative units in accordance with local practical conditions, the draft Resolution stipulates that in the case of merging 4 or more administrative units of the same level, the new administrative unit after the arrangement is not required to meet the standards of natural area and population size as prescribed; at the same time, it stipulates that the total number of communes and wards after the arrangement of provinces and cities must be reduced by at least 70% and reduced by a maximum of 75% compared to the total number of current commune-level administrative units in the province or centrally-run city.

Suggested naming order

In addition to the above contents, the draft also proposes principles for naming new commune-level administrative units after the rearrangement. The draft resolution clearly stipulates the principles for naming commune-level and ward-level administrative units after the rearrangement, emphasizing the ease of recognition, brevity, ease of reading, ease of remembering while ensuring systematicity and scientificity.

The Ministry of Home Affairs encourages the use of one of the existing names of administrative units before the merger, giving priority to names that have historical, traditional, and cultural value and are agreed upon by local people.

In particular, the Ministry of Home Affairs also proposed naming by serial number to facilitate the process of digitizing and updating information data.

In addition, the drafting agency proposed to name the new commune-level administrative unit after the name of the district-level administrative unit before the arrangement, combined with the serial number to ensure connectivity in administrative management and data system.

In addition, the name of the new commune or ward after the merger must not be the same as that of the administrative units of the same level within the province or centrally-run city. This also applies to the provinces and cities planned to be established according to the orientation of the arrangement of provincial-level administrative units approved by competent authorities.

Implementing the roadmap for arranging administrative units at commune and provincial levels as required by the Politburo, the draft Resolution stipulates the direction of simplifying the Project dossier and shortening the procedural processes (no regulations on developing a master plan, consulting with central ministries and branches, organizing practical surveys; consulting with People's Councils at district and commune levels) but still ensuring the necessary steps such as appraisal, examination and submission to competent authorities for consideration and decision.

During the implementation process, the Ministry of Home Affairs will advise the Government to issue a Plan to shorten the appraisal time and submit to the Government projects on administrative unit arrangement.

Source: https://baobinhphuoc.com.vn/news/9/170742/bo-noi-vu-khuyen-khich-su-dung-ten-goi-xa-phuong-da-co-truoc-sap-nhap