According to the Complete National Assembly Documents, after reunification in 1975, Vietnam had 72 provincial-level administrative units, of which the North had 28 provinces, cities and special zones; the South had 44 provinces and cities. The National Assembly decided to merge many provinces and cities in 1975 and 1976.
Merged to 38 provinces and cities
In the North, Cao Bang province merged with Lang Son to form Cao Lang. Tuyen Quang merged with Ha Giang to form Ha Tuyen. Hoa Binh merged with Ha Tay to form Ha Son Binh. Nam Ha merged with Ninh Binh to form Ha Nam Ninh. The three provinces of Yen Bai, Lao Cai, and Nghia Lo merged to form Hoang Lien Son.
In addition, the North also has the provinces of Bac Thai, Ha Bac, Hai Hung, Lai Chau, Quang Ninh, Son La, Thai Binh, Vinh Phu and two centrally-run cities, Hanoi and Hai Phong.
In the Central region, Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces merged into Nghe Tinh. Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue and Vinh Linh area merged into Binh Tri Thien province.
The two provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Tin and Da Nang City merged to form Quang Nam - Da Nang. Quang Ngai merged with Binh Dinh to form Nghia Binh. Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa merged to form Phu Khanh. The three provinces of Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Binh Tuy merged to form Thuan Hai.
Kon Tum and Gia Lai merged into Gia Lai - Kon Tum province. Thanh Hoa, Dak Lak, Lam Dong provinces remained the same as before.
In the South, in 1976, the National Assembly changed the name of Saigon - Gia Dinh City to Ho Chi Minh City - a city directly under the Central Government.
The three provinces of Binh Duong, Binh Long, and Phuoc Long merged into Song Be province. The provinces of Bien Hoa, Tan Phu, and Ba Ria - Long Khanh merged into Dong Nai province. Dong Thap province was established on the basis of merging Sa Dec and Kien Phong provinces.
Long Xuyen and Chau Doc provinces merged into An Giang. My Tho, Go Cong provinces and My Tho city merged into Tien Giang province.
Hau Giang province was established on the basis of merging Phong Dinh, Ba Xuyen and Chuong Thien provinces. Kien Giang province was re-established on the basis of the entire area of Rach Gia province and three districts of Chau Thanh A, Ha Tien and Phu Quoc of the previous Long Chau Ha province.
Vinh Long and Tra Vinh provinces merged into Cuu Long. Bac Lieu and Ca Mau merged into Minh Hai. In addition, Kien Hoa province changed its name to Ben Tre. The South also has Tay Ninh and Long An provinces.
According to the Government's report to the National Assembly in 1996, after many mergers, by 1978, Vietnam had 38 provinces and cities.
Split into 53 provinces and cities
Since late 1978, the National Assembly has allowed many provinces and cities to separate to establish new administrative units.
In December 1978, Cao Lang province was split into Lang Son and Cao Bang. There are 39 provinces and cities nationwide.
In May 1979, the National Assembly established the Vung Tau - Con Dao special zone under the Central Government. The number of provinces and cities nationwide increased to 40.
10 years later, Nghia Binh province was divided into Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh as before. Binh Tri Thien was divided into Thua Thien - Hue, Quang Tri and Quang Binh. Phu Khanh was divided into Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa. The whole country has 44 provinces, cities and special zones.
In 1991, Nghe Tinh province was split into Nghe An and Ha Tinh. Hoang Lien Son was split into Lao Cai and Yen Bai. Ha Tuyen was split into Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang. Gia Lai - Kon Tum was split into Gia Lai and Kon Tum. Ha Son Binh was split into Ha Tay and Hoa Binh.
Thuan Hai split into Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan. Hau Giang split into Can Tho and Soc Trang. Cuu Long split into Tra Vinh and Vinh Long. Ha Nam Ninh split into Nam Ha and Ninh Binh.
Ba Ria - Vung Tau province was established on the basis of merging three districts of Dong Nai province with Vung Tau - Con Dao special zone.
Thus, by 1991, the whole country had 53 provinces and centrally-run cities.
Presenting at the National Assembly session in November 1996, Mr. Phan Ngoc Tuong, Minister and Head of the Government Organization and Personnel Committee at that time, said that the separated provinces "all had rapid economic growth rates". There was progress in cultural, social, security and defense aspects.
After separation, each province showed relative homogeneity in nature, society, psychology, tradition and history. Therefore, separation created conditions for localities to determine the direction of socio-economic development and effectively exploit potential. Local traditions were restored and promoted.
The government at that time also assessed the scale of the divided provinces as "appropriate to the management level of the cadres". This created conditions for provincial leaders to be close to the grassroots, direct work promptly, and improve the effectiveness of state management.
61 provinces and cities in 1997
During 1996 - 1997, the Government submitted and the National Assembly continued to approve the separation of many other provinces.
Specifically, in the North, Bac Thai province was split into Thai Nguyen and Bac Kan. Vinh Phu was split into Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc. Ha Bac was split into Bac Giang and Bac Ninh. Hai Hung was split into Hai Duong and Hung Yen. Nam Ha province, after being split from Ha Nam Ninh, is now split into Ha Nam and Nam Dinh.
The three provinces of Bac Ninh, Hung Yen and Ha Nam have the smallest areas in the country, all under 900 km2.
In the Central region, Quang Nam - Da Nang province was split into Quang Nam province and Da Nang city under the central government.
In the South, Minh Hai province split into Bac Lieu and Ca Mau. Song Be split into Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc.
The Government at that time explained in its submission to the National Assembly that this was to create conditions for local development and enhance the capacity of each provincial unit in implementing the policy of industrialization, modernization of the country, and reforming the State administration. "With the division of boundaries, we have and will gradually stabilize provincial administrative boundaries," the Government's submission in November 1996 stated.
In 1997, the whole country had 61 provinces and cities, an increase of 23 units in 19 years.
Number of provinces and cities increased to 64
The process of province separation continued in 2003 when the National Assembly approved the separation of Dak Lak province into Dak Lak and Dak Nong; Hau Giang was separated into Hau Giang province and Can Tho city under the central government; Lai Chau was separated into Lai Chau and Dien Bien. The whole country now has 59 provinces and 5 centrally run cities.
The Vice Chairman of the Dak Lak Provincial People's Council at that time, Mr. Duong Thanh Tuong, said that the province had been preparing for this process for 5 years. Local people "have also been waiting for a long time, because Dak Lak has an area of 2 million hectares, the largest in the country, mountainous terrain, sparse population, very difficult to manage".
In terms of cultural identity, Dak Nong province (after separation) concentrates the M'Nong ethnic group, the rest of Dak Lak concentrates the Ede ethnic group.
Mr. Le Nam Gioi, Secretary of the Can Tho Provincial Party Committee (2001 - 2003), also said that the separation and upgrading of Can Tho to a centrally-governed city "has been prepared for a long time". After the separation, Can Tho "will be an agricultural processing center, a human resource training center for the Western provinces, a science and trade center. Hau Giang will develop a large-scale seafood processing factory".
Mr. Vu A Phia, Chairman of Lao Cai Provincial People's Council at this time, affirmed that separating Lai Chau into Lai Chau in the North and Dien Bien in the South "is inevitable". The reason is that when the Son La hydropower project is implemented, Lai Chau province will be divided into two regions on both banks of the Da River. Moreover, the current province is too large (the second largest in the country), while transportation is difficult.
Hanoi expands, the whole country has 63 provinces and cities
In May 2008, the National Assembly resolved to expand the administrative boundaries of the capital Hanoi, including Hanoi City at that time, the entire Ha Tay province, Me Linh district (Vinh Phuc) and 4 communes of Luong Son district (Hoa Binh). The total area of the new capital is more than 3,300 km2, among the 17 largest capital cities in the world.
The expansion of administrative boundaries, as explained by the Government, is to ensure space for Hanoi to develop sustainably in the immediate and long-term future, while creating conditions for Hanoi to develop comprehensively, worthy of being a multifunctional center.
With the expansion of Hanoi's administrative boundaries, the number of provinces and cities nationwide decreased from 64 to 63 and has remained stable to this day.
According to the recently issued conclusion 126, the Politburo and the Secretariat assigned the Government Party Committee to coordinate with the Central Organization Committee and the National Assembly Party Committee to study the orientation for merging a number of provincial-level administrative units.
Currently, there are 10 provinces that have not met all three criteria of area, population, and number of district-level administrative units. Dozens of other provinces and cities have not met the standards of two or one of the criteria of area, population, and number of district-level administrative units.
Experts say that in the current context, merging provinces and cities will reduce the burden of state management, opening up space for creativity and development for localities.
TB (according to VnExpress)Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/nhung-lan-nhap-tach-tinh-thanh-pho-o-viet-nam-trong-50-nam-qua-406228.html
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