Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has just signed Decision No. 571/QD-TTg dated March 12, 2025 to establish a Steering Committee to reorganize administrative units at all levels and build a two-level local government model. This is a step to concretize Conclusion 127-KL/TW dated February 28, 2025 of the Politburo.
Government model helps streamline the apparatus
At the recent meeting of the Government Party Committee Standing Committee chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Government Party Committee Standing Committee continued to give opinions on the project to rearrange and reorganize administrative units at all levels and build a 2-level local government, completing one more step of the project to submit to the Politburo for consideration and decision. In which, according to the plan, for the 2-level local government model, the number of provincial-level administrative units will be reduced by about 50% and the number of grassroots-level administrative units will be reduced by about 60-70% compared to the present. The number of communes that need to be rearranged is more than 10,000 communes, down to about 2,500. The number of provinces that need to be reduced is also somewhere around 30 provinces. The special point is that, according to the Politburo's request, it will study the elimination of the intermediate level - here, the district level.
Along with the rearrangement of administrative units at all levels, it is clear that we also need to rearrange the local government organization model towards 2 levels. Previously, in Conclusion 127-KL/TW dated February 28, 2025, in addition to the requirement to rearrange and merge a number of provincial and commune-level administrative units and not organize at the district level, the Conclusion of the Politburo and the Secretariat clearly stated: For the commune level: It is necessary to clearly define the models of local government at the commune level for urban, rural, mountainous, delta, island areas, population size, area, history, culture, socio-economic issues, national defense, security, ethnicity, religion, etc. Build the functions, tasks, powers, organizational structure, and staffing of local governments at the commune level.
Clarifying the working relationship between local government levels (between provincial and communal levels); the vertical working relationship from the central to communal levels (between ministries, central branches, specialized departments and units and individuals in charge of each field), ensuring smooth, synchronous, interconnected, effective and efficient operations; clearly defining the conditions to ensure effective operation of communal-level governments before, during and after the reorganization.
Urban and administrative units, urban government - world experience
Nowadays, international organizations have been making efforts to build awareness of “urban”. In areas considered “urban”, there is a higher concentration of population, higher density, economic activities mainly operate in the non-agricultural sector, playing the role of political center, attracting and promoting the development of culture, economy - society, education, health, science and technology... of a region, a country or many countries. In countries with different levels of government models, the name of urban administrative units such as city, town, and township is used to refer to the administrative boundaries for areas with urban characteristics, densely populated settlement models and socio-economic activities mainly non-agricultural. However, based on the scale of the urban area, each administrative unit of each country has different levels and types, and local governments also have corresponding levels.
Progress of the project to merge some provincial-level administrative units, not organize district-level units, continue to merge commune-level administrative units
The Government Party Committee urgently implements and ensures specific progress as follows:
Report to the Politburo for policy before asking for opinions from Party committees and organizations no later than March 9, 2025.
- Receive comments from the Politburo and the Secretariat, complete the project and send it to the provincial Party Committees, municipal Party Committees, Party Committees directly under the Central Committee, agencies, organizations, and Central Party Committees for comments no later than March 12, 2025.
- Receive comments from provincial Party Committees, municipal Party Committees, Party Committees directly under the Central Committee, agencies, organizations, and Central Party Committees, complete the project, and report to the Politburo and the Secretariat before March 27, 2025.
- Receive opinions from the Politburo, the Secretariat, and agencies, complete the project and submission; submit to the Party Central Committee (through the Central Organizing Committee) before April 7, 2025.
In Japan, the prefecture is divided into cities, prefectures, prefectures, and districts - the first level of local administration. The county is the basic local administrative unit - also known as the second level, divided into 3 levels of city types - to give these cities their own authority in handling local affairs based on population size. In Greece, they are divided into: Regions and municipalities, with 2 official levels of local administration. Sweden has 21 regions/areas and cities and also has 2 levels of local administration. Or like in the Netherlands, local government is also divided into two levels of provinces and cities, corresponding to 2 types of administrative units.
Speaking at a workshop on the topic "Innovation in thinking about building and enforcing laws to meet the needs of national development in the new era", Associate Professor, Dr. To Van Hoa, Vice President of Hanoi Law University, when talking about the orientation of research on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2013 Constitution to meet the requirements of implementing the revolution of streamlining the apparatus, said that it is necessary to see that not organizing the district level is not simply the abolition of an administrative level but needs to be viewed more broadly, in essence, it is a process of consideration to restructure the entire territorial administrative system of Vietnam from the central to local levels, especially the local level.
Directions for Vietnam's urban government model after merger
Regarding the establishment of local governments, the Vice President of the University of Law said that in administrative units with concentrated populations, there should be sufficient conditions to establish a full local government. Meanwhile, in specialized administrative units, the state only needs to establish specialized administrative agencies with fields appropriate to each locality. With Article 110 of the Constitution, he proposed that it is possible to study and amend and supplement in the direction of stipulating that Vietnam includes administrative units and specialized administrative units. In which, administrative units have 2 levels: provincial level and grassroots or communal level.
Discussing the two-level government and its impact on the urban system of Vietnam, Dr. Tran Quoc Thai, Director of the Department of Urban Management (Ministry of Construction) proposed: The first-level model is also known as the provincial and centrally-run city level. With the provincial government - managing the entire province; With centrally-run cities, it is the city government - managing the entire city.
The second-level model, also known as the provincial grassroots government, includes administrative units such as: cities/towns; towns, communes - urban centers or current wards. This level of government will manage: Suburban areas; The entire boundary of towns and communes, Dr. Thai stated his opinion.
For the grassroots level model - level 2 of the centrally-run city, Dr. Thai proposed the administrative unit to be the central city - currently the districts; the town city is the current wards and the suburban area is the current suburban communes. Accordingly, the government at this level will manage the central area of the centrally-run city; the central urban area; the suburban area and the entire town boundary, the entire commune boundary.
Assessing the impact on the government model and functions and tasks, the Director of the Department of Urban Management said: For the current urban government model, cities, towns and townships have different functions, tasks and authorities. With the above plan, the urban government model will be reorganized according to the nature, scale and functions of that urban area. Mr. Thai said: This is the superiority when applying this model.
As for the wards and communes on the outskirts of urban areas, Dr. Thai proposed: It is necessary to organize public administrative offices for residents in the unified area according to regulations. Such organization will be handled flexibly, convenient for people when implementing without administrative boundaries and managing residents on the basis of the current population database. The activities of public administrative offices will be implemented and arranged in numbers based on the population scale, residents can go to any address to perform. However, to organize the second-level government apparatus, also known as the grassroots level in urban areas, it is necessary to decentralize and delegate power to urban authorities to create convenience in urban management and development, Mr. Thai said.
Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Hoai Son - Full-time National Assembly Delegate, XV term:
The new administrative center after the merger must be a convenient connection point.
Along with the issue of the two-level local government model, the choice of a new administrative center after the merger has also received much attention in recent days. Full-time National Assembly delegate Bui Hoai Son said: The new administrative center after the merger (province, commune) is not only a technical decision, but also a story about the past, present and future of that land. It is not only the place where the government apparatus is located, but also the heart of an entire province, where cultural, economic and human flows converge. Therefore, this decision needs to be carefully considered, not only based on reason but also in harmony with the emotions and desires of the community.
First of all, the new administrative center must be a convenient connection point, where traffic is not only smooth but also has the potential to expand in the future. An administrative center cannot be an isolated area, but must be a place where people can easily come and go, a place where businesses, investors, and people all feel comfortable working and living. The urban infrastructure there must be solid enough to not disrupt state management activities, while having space for continued development, avoiding a state of being cramped or outdated after a few years.
But a city can only develop sustainably when it has a solid economic foundation. The new administrative center should be located in an area with strong economic vitality, where it can create development momentum for the entire province instead of simply being a dry administrative headquarters. Economy and administration must go hand in hand, supporting each other to form an attractive land, not only for businesses but also for those who want to find a place to settle down and build their future.
In addition to these practical factors, we cannot ignore the historical and cultural depth. An administrative center is not only a place for the government to work, but also a symbol of an entire land. Its history, the cultural values formed over many generations, all contribute to creating its own identity. We cannot take this lightly, because a land with a soul, with memories, can become a place where people feel attached and proud.
Dr. Tran Quoc Thai - Director of Urban Management Department (Ministry of Construction):
Merging provinces and communes and eliminating intermediate levels is an opportunity to perfect the urban government apparatus.
Implementing the Politburo's direction on Conclusion 127-KL/TW dated February 28, 2025 on implementing research and proposing to continue to reorganize the apparatus of the political system in the current period, for urban development management, we see this as an opportunity to perfect the urban government apparatus to meet the new stage of the country. Therefore, we believe that the proposed 2-level plan, in which level 2 is the grassroots government level, clearly distinguishing the urban and rural government levels, is appropriate, does not disrupt the urban development orientation but also supplements and perfects the urban development management work. At the same time, I believe that it is necessary to perfect the urban government apparatus in the direction of decentralization, supplementing specific functions and tasks in urban development for urban governments according to the functions, locations and urban population size.
Source: https://daidoanket.vn/dinh-hinh-mo-hinh-chinh-quyen-dia-phuong-sau-sap-nhap-10301659.html
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