Research on merging provinces by economic region
Mr. Pham Van Hoa, National Assembly delegate of Dong Thap province, shared that 5-6 years ago, he had an opinion on merging and consolidating some provincial administrative units.
“At the 14th National Assembly forum, I raised concerns about merging some provinces and cities across the country for localities with small populations and small areas. There are provinces with only over 300,000 people, which is too small compared to provinces and cities with millions of people,” Mr. Pham Van Hoa shared.
According to him, the current time is suitable to implement the policy of abolishing district level and merging provinces.
“The streamlining of the apparatus and staff is a very important revolution for the development of the country. We are streamlining a number of ministries and branches from the central government to the localities. The majority of cadres, party members and people strongly support this policy,” Mr. Hoa said, emphasizing that this is an important premise towards merging provincial administrative units.
According to delegate Pham Van Hoa, our country has a population of about 100 million people, but has 63 provinces and cities, which is a lot.
"Vietnam has separated and merged many times to develop, but it is still not thorough," Mr. Hoa shared.
According to Mr. Hoa, the consolidation of provincial administrative units is the right direction to unify the apparatus from the central to local levels without being cumbersome, but to manage the state by delegating authority, responsibility, and authorization to different places in a transparent, impartial, and objective manner, demonstrating local power under the inspection and supervision of central agencies.
However, the merger of provinces and cities needs a feasible plan for implementation.
“From now until the end of the year, there needs to be an implementation plan,” Mr. Hoa suggested. Currently, the government from the central to local levels is 4, and the local level is 3. Therefore, the district level needs to be eliminated. He suggested that the authority should be transferred to the province and the communes should be merged together.
“Currently, our communes are still very fragmented even after many mergers, some communes have only 2,000 - 3,000 people, I think it is unreasonable. In the 4.0 period, no matter how far the area is, the village roads are convenient, merging the communes is appropriate. After that, the authority is transferred to the commune level instead of the current district level... The current time is appropriate.
Mr. Hoa also emphasized "consolidation - streamlining at the provincial level" to solve the problem of ineffective state management.
According to him, having too many provinces and cities not only makes the administrative management apparatus of each locality cumbersome, but also leads to unreasonable resource allocation.
For example, he said, some provinces, despite having small populations and small areas, still have large administrative systems that are costly and do not bring about commensurate efficiency.
On the contrary, some provinces and districts have great development potential, but have not received proper investment due to lack of coordination and support among administrative units. Therefore, the consolidation and streamlining of provinces will help reduce the dispersion of resources, while enhancing coordination among localities in implementing policies.
"I think merging from 63 to about 40 provinces and cities is appropriate," said Mr. Hoa.
According to Mr. Pham Van Hoa, to carry out the provincial merger, there must be specific criteria. In addition to the criteria on population size and natural area, it is necessary to take into account the criteria on culture, history, national security, sovereignty protection, geopolitical position, regional and national planning, and community culture, in order to ensure stability for socio-economic development as the country enters a new era.
“In the past, we have separated and merged provinces many times, but it has been a long time, now re-merging needs to evaluate and consider aspects, practical and objective situations of socio-economy, national defense - security, regional planning... I propose to study by economic region such as industrial province, agricultural province, province developing marine economy, service city...
"Divided by region, field and industry to facilitate investment," he said.
'Doing the real thing, not just merging - streamlining on the map'
Mr. Dao Chi Nghia, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Can Tho City, said that the consolidation, streamlining, and merger of the state administrative apparatus is a major policy of the Party and State, which needs to be implemented synchronously and comprehensively, from the central to local levels, to avoid the situation of "hot above, cold below".
“The determination to merge and streamline this time is not only to be compact, but also to be stronger, faster, more effective, creating momentum for even development among regions, from plains to mountains, from rural to urban areas.
However, this must be carried out with a specific roadmap, ensuring that it does not cause major disruption to the operations of the political system," he said.
Mr. Nghia analyzed that with the current number of 63 administrative units, it leads to a situation of resource dispersion, budget waste and difficulty in creating momentum for regional economic development.
Each province and city has its own administrative apparatus, which leads to duplication of functions and tasks and waste of human and financial resources. The division of administrative units into too small units also causes difficulties in planning and investing in the development of large projects.
Commenting on the need to unify and reduce from 63 provinces and cities to about 35 - 37 provinces and cities, Mr. Nghia said that this is a big issue with multi-dimensional impacts, especially attracting public attention.
“How can a country develop strongly when the administrative apparatus is too cumbersome and fragmented? It is time to boldly restructure and change to optimize resources and open up opportunities for a country to reach further on the world map,” he said.
He suggested that merging some provinces and cities would help significantly reduce the number of officials and civil servants, save operating costs of local administrative agencies, and reduce overlap in functions and tasks.
This will enable the Government to reallocate resources to invest in more important areas, such as education, health, national security, infrastructure and social security.
Delegate Nghia analyzed, let's imagine dozens of small districts with limited areas and small populations disappearing, merging into larger cities, forming stronger administrative units. This could help create dynamic economic zones, reduce administrative costs, and promote the development of the whole country.
“This is not just a merger and streamlining on the map, but a bold shift in state management thinking. The main goal is to create a streamlined, dynamic apparatus capable of meeting the country's development requirements in the new period,” he emphasized.
VN (according to Vietnamnet)Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/sap-nhap-tinh-thanh-pho-khong-chi-la-tinh-gon-tren-ban-do-405977.html
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