HCM CITY – HCM City is merging various management boards, departments and districts in an effort to streamline its administrative procedures.

The city has 44 management boards that manage more than 3,000 projects. With such an excessive number, their jobs overlap and management is often inefficient, causing suspension of many projects.

The chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, Nguyễn Thành Phong, has agreed to merge the management boards of Thủ Thiêm New Urban Area, Sài Gòn South New Urban Area and HCM City North-West Urban Area.

The city’s Interior Affairs Department will also submit a draft to reform other management boards, districts and management boards of ODA projects.

According to the master plan of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the four departments of justice, natural resources and the environment, labour and social affairs, and healthcare will remain unchanged in HCM City.

The second group of departments -- for investment, finance, transport, construction, agriculture, industry, trade, education, science, culture and communication -- might be merged or remain the same.

This will be decided by the municipal’s people’s councils, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

In the draft, the Ministry of Home Affairs has limited the number of directors and officials in departments and lower level offices.

The heads of agencies in HCM City are against the idea of a “super-department”, saying the increased workload of a sprawling metropolis combined with staff cuts would create severe bureaucratic bottlenecks.

The reform is expected to improve the efficiency of the city government’s operations.

Experts says developed countries only have 12 to 15 ministries, while Việt Nam has 22 ministries and ministry-level agencies, but “the quality of service delivery to the public is certainly not on a par” with developed countries.

Under the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Hà Nội and HCM City will have no more than 20 departments, while other provinces and cities will have no more than 17 or 18 departments, depending on their specific conditions. – VNS