(Dan Tri) - The Vice President of Hanoi Law University proposed to establish a new administrative unit, the Inner City, including the core urban area, the capital of centrally-run cities (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong).
At the National Workshop "Innovation in law making and enforcement to meet the requirements of national development in the New Era", on the morning of March 6, Associate Professor, Dr. To Van Hoa, Vice President of Hanoi Law University, gave a remarkable speech related to the study of abolishing district-level administrative units.
Mr. To Van Hoa, Vice President of Hanoi Law University (Photo: Phung Minh).
Understanding "Administrative Unit" and "Specialized Administrative Unit"
According to Mr. Hoa, not organizing the district level in the local administrative system in Vietnam is not simply abolishing the district-level administrative unit and merging communes together.
"To ensure stability and smoothness in local administrative work, especially public services for the people, this policy requires a comprehensive approach to the local administrative system, requiring consideration of the overall design of Vietnam's territorial administrative system," Mr. Hoa stated his opinion.
So how should the local territorial administrative system in Vietnam be structured to promote effective management, liberate resources, create and promote development?
To solve that problem, Mr. Hoa realized that it is necessary to clarify some basic theoretical issues, principles of organizing the local administrative system of a country. First, it is necessary to clarify the concept of "administrative unit" and the concept of "specialized administrative unit".
The leaders of Hanoi Law University emphasized that in modern local administrative governance, the national territory is often divided by the State into administrative units and special administrative units so that every square meter must be managed and have national sovereignty.
"However, not every square meter is managed according to the same mechanism, but there are differences suitable to the natural, population, economic and social conditions of that place," he analyzed.
In administrative units, due to the concentrated population, there are sufficient conditions to establish a full local government - including a representative body of the local people, deciding on local issues and its executive body performing state administrative management, serving people's lives.
In specialized administrative units, the State only establishes specialized administrative management agencies in areas appropriate to the characteristics of each locality. For example, in areas with forests, the management agencies focus on the tasks of protecting and developing forests and protecting resources; while in mountainous areas, they focus on protecting the territory and maintaining order and security... Here, a full local government is not formed, but national sovereignty is still demonstrated through the administrative management activities of state agencies.
When applying the above principles to the organization of the local administrative system, Mr. Hoa affirmed that it is possible to determine that the administrative unit has two levels.
The first is the provincial level, including provinces and centrally run cities.
The second is the grassroots level (below the provincial level, which can be called "commune level" or "grassroots level"), including the administrative units closest to the people, that is, communes and concentrated urban areas (which can be called cities, classified into groups depending on size and level of development).
From there, Associate Professor, Dr. To Van Hoa commented that implementing the policy of abolishing district-level administrative units will require research to amend and supplement a number of provisions of the Constitution.
He proposed to amend Article 110 of the Constitution on administrative units in Vietnam in the direction of stipulating that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam consists of administrative units and specialized administrative units.
There are two levels of administrative units: provincial-level administrative units (including provinces and centrally run cities) and grassroots-level administrative units, or commune-level (including communes, cities, and towns in provinces; city-level communes, towns, and inner cities in centrally run cities).
"The inner city is a new administrative unit, including the core urban area, the capital of a centrally-run city, including the current inner-city districts of centrally-run cities. For example, the inner city of Hanoi includes 12 districts, the inner city of Ho Chi Minh City includes 16 districts, the inner city of Hai Phong includes 6 districts...", the leader of Hanoi Law University explained.
Mr. To Van Hoa proposed that the inner city be a new administrative unit, for example, Hanoi's inner city includes 12 districts (Photo: Manh Quan).
The basic administrative units can be divided into smaller territories, but they are not administrative units but only administrative management areas. There is no local government established, but only departments/bases of higher-level administrative agencies carry out administrative management work.
Specialized administrative units include specialized administrative units at all levels established and managed according to the provisions of law. The Law on Local Government may prescribe 2 or more levels of specialized administrative units.
Including specialized administrative units managed by provincial-level local authorities and specialized administrative units managed by the central level.
The establishment, dissolution, merger, division, and adjustment of administrative and specialized administrative units are carried out in accordance with the provisions of the law. Therefore, the legal expert believes that the procedural regulations in the law are appropriate, both ensuring democracy and creating the necessary flexibility to suit the diversity of types of administrative and specialized administrative units.
How to amend the Constitution on local government organization?
Regarding Article 111 of the Constitution on local government organization, Mr. Hoa proposed to study amendments and supplements in two directions.
Firstly, the regulations in administrative units establish local governments including People's Councils and People's Committees. There is no distinction between local governments and "local government levels" because local governments must have a full structure of People's Councils and People's Committees.
Second, the regulations in specialized administrative units do not establish local governments but can establish administrative management mechanisms suitable for the purpose of establishing specialized administrative units.
Mr. Hoa emphasized that streamlining the local government apparatus towards not organizing at the district level is an important step to improve the efficiency of state management. If implemented well, it will help reduce the cumbersomeness in the state administrative system, while creating a streamlined, flexible administrative model, suitable for development requirements in the current context.
"To successfully implement this policy, amending and supplementing the Constitution is necessary to create a clear and stable constitutional foundation for the process of restructuring the apparatus," he stated.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/de-xuat-thanh-lap-don-vi-hanh-chinh-ten-noi-do-o-ha-noi-tphcm-20250306105756967.htm
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