The policy of the Politburo and Secretariat on merging provinces, abolishing district level, and expanding commune level is a necessary and popular reform to streamline the apparatus.
Economist Pham Chi Lan - former General Secretary, Vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (now the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), member of the Prime Minister's Research Committee - had an interview with a reporter from the Industry and Trade Newspaper about this issue.
Creating new momentum for development is necessary and must be done urgently.
- The Politburo has just issued Conclusion No. 127-KL/TW on implementing research and proposing to continue to reorganize the apparatus of the political system, including the requirement to research the orientation of merging a number of provincial-level units. What is your opinion?
Ms. Pham Chi Lan: I think this is very necessary. Because when we have reorganized the apparatus at the Central level, the next thing to do is to reorganize at the local level and it must be done before the 14th National Party Congress. Otherwise, we will have a time gap after reorganizing the apparatus at the Central level and at the local level there will still be a very cumbersome apparatus that operates ineffectively.
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| Develop a project to merge some provincial-level administrative units, not organize at the district level, continue to merge commune-level administrative units. Illustrative photo |
When rearranging important positions at both the central and local levels, this will be an opportunity for us to re-select personnel, bringing talented, capable, enthusiastic, determined, dedicated people with a high sense of responsibility for the fate of the nation and the people into the new apparatus. Therefore, the rearrangement and reorganization of administrative units at all levels and the establishment of a two-level local government are absolutely necessary and I fully support it.
In fact, when the Politburo and the Secretariat decided to reorganize the apparatus of ministries and branches, I also thought that it was necessary to do it at the local level. Because the local level is the level closest to the people and businesses. This is also the level that has to implement the most policies. If they do not meet the requirements and innovative thinking, the new policies of the Central Government will hardly be able to come into life.
On the other hand, the merger of provinces is also a revolution in streamlining the organization and apparatus, to reduce intermediate levels, reduce procedures, and create an important driving force for the country's development to achieve the goals set by the Central Government. 2025 is a decisive year, creating a foundation. If this year we cannot build a good, lean and compact apparatus, lean and refined, with high responsibility in work, next year will also be difficult.
In the process of streamlining and merging, like before, there will also be a situation of "buying positions and power", but I think this will have little chance. The Government has just issued a Resolution of the regular Government meeting in February 2025, in which there is also an important content: "Strengthening the prevention and fight against corruption, waste, and negativity associated with the arrangement and streamlining of the political system's apparatus and preparing and organizing well the Party congresses at all levels towards the 14th National Party Congress; absolutely not allowing the situation of "buying positions", "group interests", taking advantage of the arrangement and streamlining of the apparatus, and streamlining of staff to commit corruption and negativity".
The existence of district government is absurd.
- At this point, what favorable conditions do we have for the province's merger, madam?
Ms. Pham Chi Lan: I think our biggest advantage now is that we have had 40 years of innovation, and have split and merged into provinces several times. Up to this point, the number of 63 provinces and cities is too many.
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| The Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Government Party Committee Standing Committee to continue giving opinions on the Project to rearrange and reorganize administrative units at all levels and build two-level local governments. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac |
Along with the province merger, the policy of the Politburo and the Secretariat is to abolish the district-level government. We currently have a 4-level government including the central government; provincial/city government; district/county government and local government (ward, commune). 4-level government is too much and I think there is excess at the district level, causing more confusion in management work.
Adding another level of management (district level), meanwhile, does not create much value for the organizational apparatus, does not make the organizational apparatus more qualified, on the contrary, it is creating an intermediary, prolonging the process of implementing the Party's policies and guidelines. Therefore, the existence of district-level government is absurd.
The cumbersome apparatus reduces the efficiency, effectiveness and efficiency of management, making it difficult for investment. For many years now, 70% of the state budget has been for regular expenditure. The state's task is to collect taxes from the people to invest in development, but this figure is only 30%. This small number is often invested ineffectively, thus not only failing to meet development requirements but also wasting the country's resources.
Merging several provinces into a new province, then investing in traffic connection infrastructure projects, logistics center projects, and commercial centers serving the circulation and development of new goods will be truly effective.
If we compare the gains and losses, the losses are too small.
- Merger is necessary and is not debatable, however, some opinions are concerned that it will lead to social security disruptions. What is your comment on this?
Ms. Pham Chi Lan: Disruption is inevitable. There is no reform or revolution that does not create certain disruptions. However, the important thing here is that we evaluate the gains and losses. I think that the gains will certainly be greater and much greater than the losses.
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| Ms. Pham Chi Lan - economic expert, General Secretary and Vice President of VCCI, member of the Prime Minister's Research Committee. Photo: Nguyen Hanh |
That gain is the benefit for hundreds of millions of Vietnamese people, for the long-term future of Vietnam. If we want to rise up and develop, we must start working immediately and decisively. If we keep holding on to each other, pitying each other, respecting each other and doing things the old way, there will never be a revolution in streamlining the apparatus.
Obviously, the gain here is for the long term, for the common good, while the loss is much smaller and only occurs in the short term, within a certain scope and within a certain group of people, not all.
I would like to emphasize that if we compare the gains and losses, the losses are too small.
- To merge provinces, in your opinion, what criteria should be based on?
Ms. Pham Chi Lan: I think that the Politburo and the Secretariat, when making the policy, certainly had certain plans. Like in the past, there must have been a reason for the Politburo and the Secretariat to decide to merge one ministry into another.
When the decision was made to merge the Ministry of Planning and Investment with the Ministry of Finance, many people thought that a leading large ministry like the Ministry of Planning and Investment would no longer have that name.
But I think this is a product of the centralized planning period. During the period since the renovation, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has done a lot of work. However, at this point, the role of state management will have to be different. Government management will also be different, not based on the state plan but that plan must be linked to national finance.
We cannot approve investment projects without knowing where the capital comes from, who manages the capital, how the capital is used, and how to evaluate its effectiveness. The state's investment decisions must be based on financial resources, and these financial resources must demonstrate how much budget revenue is generated, but the spending must be reasonable and bring the highest efficiency. This will increase the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance.
Therefore, in the revolution of streamlining the local apparatus, the Politburo and the Secretariat will also have to calculate and consider which province should be merged with which province. Among the merged provinces, which province will be the center? This merger is not only based on population and economic criteria but also on culture, history, natural geographical conditions, potential, and the ability to support each other for development, and cannot merge weak provinces that are incapable of surpassing each other.
Along with that are policies at different levels of cadres. What capacity should the provincial level have, what capacity should the commune level have? For a long time, there has been a very big problem, which is that we have issued good policies and regulations but poor implementation.
With the Project to rearrange and reorganize administrative units at all levels and build a two-level local government, the level of implementing policies and guidelines will be the ward and commune levels. They are the ones closest to the people and most directly responsible to the people, directly responsible for implementing policies and guidelines from above. This level must be very strong in terms of capacity, only then can all the noble ideas put forth by the Party and the Government be implemented.
I think that whether we can grow or not must start from the grassroots level. If they implement the best policies, people and businesses will develop and serve the common development.
Such decentralization and delegation of authority will clarify responsibilities. After a certain period of time, those who cannot do it will be replaced by others. This screening process must take place regularly under the supervision of both the state and the people and businesses. We must accept screening, because screening is an inevitable requirement. Only with screening can development take place.
Perhaps, time is too urgent for Vietnam.
- Another issue is that recently, on social networks and foreign media in Vietnamese, there has been a "proposal" that "a referendum should be held" on the merger of provinces. What is your opinion on this issue?
Ms. Pham Chi Lan: In Conclusion 127-KL/TW of the Politburo and Secretariat dated February 28, 2025, the goals, roadmap and requirements for the merger of provinces and administrative units were clearly stated.
According to Conclusion 127, the Politburo requested that the provincial merger plan be completed no later than March 9 and will be submitted to the Party Central Committee before April 7, 2025.
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| The Prime Minister emphasized the requirement for the arrangement and reorganization of administrative units at all levels to strengthen authority and further promote the self-reliance and autonomy of local levels. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac |
Regarding the issue of amending the Constitution, Conclusion 127 also assigned the National Assembly Party Committee to preside over and coordinate with the Government Party Committee to direct the Party Committee of the Law and Justice Committee, the Party Committee of the Ministry of Justice and relevant agencies to study the amendment and supplementation of a number of articles of the Constitution within the scope of issues on the organization of the political system, and report to the Politburo in early March 2025 to submit to the Party Central Committee before April 7, 2025. At the same time, the time for completing the amendment and supplementation of a number of articles of the Constitution is no later than June 30, 2025.
It can be affirmed that the contents related to the objectives, requirements, time schedule, and procedures for researching the merger of provinces and organizing administrative units have all been made public, transparent, ensuring compliance with the law, ensuring the leadership of the Party as well as ensuring democracy and openness in the development of the Projects.
The Constitution stipulates four levels of local government, but now that it has changed, we must amend it. If necessary, the Constitution can clarify and clarify the responsibility for decentralization between the levels (including provinces and centrally run cities) and the grassroots levels (ward and commune levels). However, the Constitution does not stipulate how many provinces there are, so merging provinces is normal. In addition, some related laws and legal documents must be amended.
Another issue is that recently, on social networks and foreign media in Vietnamese, there has suddenly appeared a "proposal" that "a referendum should be held" on the merger of provinces. I think that asking for people's opinions, if any, is for us to listen, learn more about the issues and solve them to reduce the negative aspects, reduce the adverse effects, and we do not necessarily have to ask for opinions in a majority vote. Regarding asking for people's opinions, if we do, we must do it quickly and not let the time for asking for opinions be too long or too long.
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| Administrative map of 63 provinces and cities of Vietnam. |
The merger of provinces, the abolition of district level, and the expansion of commune level must be carried out resolutely and decisively. This is something we see as necessary and good, so we must do it. Perhaps, time is too urgent for Vietnam.
It has taken us too long. It has been 15 years since we reached middle income status (2010) and we have not made much progress.
At the 20-year mark of renovation, there were many opinions that it was necessary to introduce many new policies for a second renovation, however, it has not been achieved yet. We still think that renovation is a continuous process. But if we continuously take slow steps, sometimes moving forward a little and sometimes “one step forward, three steps back”, then we cannot move forward.
Institutions are the bottleneck of bottlenecks, but this is also one of the three strategic breakthroughs, which was proposed in 2011. Up to now, we have lost 14-15 years, and we have not had anything truly groundbreaking in this strategic breakthrough. Now, if we want to create a breakthrough, we have to do it differently, we cannot wait any longer.
And in the current conditions, streamlining the apparatus and eliminating intermediate levels is not only an administrative task but also a historical requirement. A compact apparatus that operates efficiently, effectively and effectively will serve the people and businesses better, helping the country to break through faster in the new era - the era of prosperity and happiness.
Thank you!
On March 7, 2025, Politburo member and Standing member of the Secretariat Tran Cam Tu signed and issued Conclusion No. 128-KL/TW of the Politburo on the policy on personnel work. The Politburo's conclusion clearly stated that from March 7 until the completion of the province merger, the abolition of the district level, the reorganization of commune-level administrative units, and the streamlining of the Fatherland Front agencies, socio-political organizations, and mass organizations assigned by the Party and the State, it is necessary to unify a number of policies. |
Speaking at the conclusion of the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Government Party Committee, continuing to give opinions on the Project on rearranging and reorganizing administrative units at all levels and building a 2-level local government, completing one more step of the Project to submit to the competent authority on the afternoon of March 11, Party Secretary and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that the vast majority of opinions and public opinion highly agreed with the policy of rearranging and reorganizing administrative units at all levels and building a 2-level local government, to suit the new situation and current management capacity when traffic infrastructure and digital infrastructure conditions have been strongly improved, while creating new development space, maximizing the potential differences, outstanding opportunities, and competitive advantages of each locality. Regarding the two-level local government model, the meeting agreed to submit to competent authorities a plan that after the arrangement will reduce about 50% of the number of provincial-level administrative units and about 60-70% of grassroots-level administrative units compared to present. |
Source: https://congthuong.vn/sap-nhap-tinh-chu-truong-cua-y-dang-long-dan-377890.html
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