It is expected that 11 provinces and cities will not have their administrative units reorganized.

According to the draft Resolution drafted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the country will have 11 provinces and cities that are not subject to the arrangement of provincial-level administrative units, including: Hanoi, Hue, Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Son La, Cao Bang, Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh.

The remaining 52 localities, including Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang and Can Tho, are subject to review and arrangement according to the criteria specified in Resolution No. 1211 (amended and supplemented in 2022) of the National Assembly Standing Committee.

Specifically, a provincial-level administrative unit must meet three standards regarding natural area, population, and the number of district-level administrative units. For mountainous provinces, the area must be from 8,000 km² or more and the minimum population must be 900,000 people; the remaining provinces must have an area of ​​5,000 km² or more and a population of 1.4 million people. A centrally-run city must have an area of ​​1,500 km² or more and a population of 1 million people. In addition, all must have 9 or more district-level administrative units.

Provinces and cities that do not meet the above criteria will have to merge, on the principle of ensuring similarities in culture, history, ethnicity, natural conditions and infrastructure connections. The naming of the new unit, after the merger, will continue to retain the title of "province" or "city directly under the Central Government", depending on the previous nature of the locality.

The draft also clearly states some special cases that do not require arrangement, such as localities with isolated locations, difficult traffic connections, or playing a particularly important role in national defense, security, and sovereignty.

Plan to reduce the number of communes to below 3,000

In parallel with the provincial-level reorganization, the Ministry of Home Affairs also proposed to reorganize the administrative scale at the commune level nationwide. Of the total 10,035 existing communes, it is expected that 9,996 units will be subject to reorganization, aiming to reduce the number to less than 3,000 units.

According to regulations, communes with an area or population below 300% of the standard (according to the Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee) will have to consider merging. This needs to be done carefully, taking into account the cultural, ethnic, geographical and customary characteristics of each region, while ensuring national defense, security, social order and administrative management capacity after the merger.

In cases of merging 4 or more communes, it is not necessary to meet the area and population standards, but it must meet the requirements of streamlining the apparatus and efficiency in government organization.

It is expected that after the reorganization, many communes will be merged, moving towards a two-level government model (province - commune), instead of the current three-level model. In particular, the merger of communes can be carried out even when the communes belong to different districts. In the case of a merger between a commune and a ward, the new unit will still be called a ward.

The new names of the communes after the merger are chosen by the locality, however, the Central Government encourages naming them after the old district-level units with serial numbers, to facilitate the process of data digitization and administrative information management.

The reorganization of commune level is under the authority of the National Assembly Standing Committee and will be implemented first. At the same time, the authorities will gradually carry out the necessary political and legal procedures to amend and supplement the 2013 Constitution, creating a legal basis for the transformation of the government model, including the termination of the district level.

PV Synthesis

Source: https://hatinhtv.vn/tin-bai/chinh-tri/du-kien-11-tinh-thanh-khong-sap-xep-don-vi-hanh-chinh