National Assembly Standing Committee deputies approved a resolution on the rearrangement of administrative units at communal and district levels in six central cities and provinces on Tuesday. VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đức

HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam is expected to reduce the number of districts by six and the number of communes by 544 after merging administrative units.

The resolution was approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee (NASC) on Tuesday with 100 per cent of the votes by NA deputies and will take effect on March 1.

After re-organisation, Thái Bình province will have its communes trimmed by 26 units while Lào Cai province and Hà Nội will decrease by 10 and five, respectively. Cần Thơ City and Khánh Hòa will reduce by two and one communes respectively. 

Trà Lĩnh, Trùng Khánh, Phục Hòa and Quảng Uyên districts in Cao Bằng province will be merged into two.

Addressing the NASC, Lại Xuân Môn, Secretary of Cao Bằng Province’s Party Committee said the rearrangement was welcomed by constituents (over 90 per cent), adding that the province had dispatched delegations to visit Quảng Ninh, Thanh Hóa and Nghệ An to gain more experience about the places.

“Many people might raise concern over the merging of administrative units because some will get higher position while others lose their jobs,” he said.

“However, the provincial Party Committee has introduced measures to handle all possible problems.”

According to him, the merging will help boost the province’s economic development and improve its defence capacity and political security.

Võ Trọng Việt, chairman of NA Committee and Defence and Security, agreed, saying merging districts would facilitate regional connectivity while fostering socio-economic development.

Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân, NA chairwoman, emphasised the need to ensure all residents would be on board with the plans.

“In addition to natural areas, it was necessary to consider defence and security factors as well as cultural traditions before merging administrative units with a view to boost living standards and the region’s economy,” she said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) plans to merge 631 communal administrative units and 16 district-level units by 2021 in accordance with a resolution issued by the Politburo in 2018 to streamline the apparatus of local authorities and ensure the resources for socio-economic development are used effectively.

The units to be merged are the ones that do not meet criteria in terms of natural area and population for their current classification.

To date 44 out of 45 provinces and cities have submitted their re-organisation plans to the MoHA.

NA specialised deputies to increase

Raising the number of NA specialised deputies were also debated by NA deputies as they discussed a draft law amending some articles of the Law on Organisation of the National Assembly.

According to Hoàng Thanh Tùng, chairman of NA’s Legal Affairs Committee, while majority of deputies agreed the proportion of NA specialised deputies should account for at least 35 per cent of the total number of NA deputies, many suggested raising the proportion to 40 per cent or 200 deputies.

Phan Thanh Bình, chairman of NA’s Culture, Education, Youth and Children Committee said the number of specialised deputies should be increased to handle more work.

Nguyễn Đức Hải, chairman of the NA’s Finance and Budget Committee echoed Bình’s opinion, saying it was essential to raise the quality of NA’s law-making and supervising work.

NA chairwoman Ngân suggested including people who once worked as leaders of ministries, agencies as well as localities who still meet health requirement to work as NA specialised deputies to take advantage of their experience and wisdom.

All the proposals would be submitted to the NA for approval. -- VNS