Thủ Thiêm Ward in HCM City’s District 2 is in one of the wards to be merged with another as part of the city’s rationalisation of administrative units.VNS File Photo.

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Committee has announced plans to reorganise administrative units belonging to districts and communes/wards from now through 2021.

Under a master plan drawn up by the Department of Home Affairs, 10 wards in districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, and Phú Nhuận will be reorganised.

In District 2, An Khánh and Thủ Thiêm wards will be merged, as will Bình Khánh with Bình An.

In District 3, wards 6, 7 and 8 will be merged. In District 4, Ward 2 will be merged with Ward 5, and Ward 12 with Ward 13.

In District 5, wards 12 and 15 will be merged. In District 10, wards 2 and 3 will be merged.

In Phú Nhuận, Ward 11 to be merged with Ward 12, and Ward 13 with Ward 14.

According to Đỗ Văn Đạo, deputy director of the Department of Internal Affairs, administrative units that are to be merged with others are those that do not meet the norms set by the National Assembly Standing Committee of being at least 5.5sq.km and having a population of over 15,000.

The city has 322 wards and communes in its 24 districts, and 15 wards do not meet these norms.

No administrative unit at the district level needs to be restructured in the first stage, Đạo said.

The reorganisation will be completed this year followed by the appointment of leaders and other officials for the newly established administrative units next year, according to the HCM City Department of Planning and Investment. — VNS.