VN to reduce number of districts, communes

At present, Viet Nam’s administration is devided into central, provincial, district and communal levels.

From 1975 to 1986, the number of provincial-level units dropped from 72 to 40, then increased to 64 as of November 2003. In May 2008, the number of provinces and centrally-run cities reduced to 63 following the merging of Ha Noi and Ha Tay province. 

Meanwhile, the number of districts rose from 431 in 1986 to 713 in 2016 and the number of communes increased to 11,162 in 2016 from 9,657 in 1986.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the division of administrative units in the early years of the economic reform produced some positive effects, stimulating local socio-economic development, investment in local infrastructure and bringing the administrative apparatus close to the people. 

However, it also resulted in a cumbersome apparatus with large numbers of State employees along with rising spending on salary payment and operational costs. 

In addition, more than half of the total communes nationwide (6,191 communes or 55.46 percent) do not meet even 50% of the criteria on natural area and population as set by Resolution 1211/2016/UBTVQH13, said Phan Van Hung, Director General of the Local Administration Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Hung also said 259 out of the current 713 district-level administrative units nationwide do not meet 50% of the criteria on acreage and population set by Resolution 1211.

In a bid to fix the above situation, the 12^th Party Central Committee issued Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW dated October 25, 2017 and the Politburo issued Resolution No. 37-NQ/TW dated December 24, 2018, and the National Assembly Standing Committee approved a resolution on rearrangement of administrative units at district and communal levels for 2019-2021 period in order to reduce the number of administrative units at district and communal levels.

The National Assembly Standing Committee’s resolution includes three chapter and 18 articles specifying rearrangement principles, structural organization, and number of personnel.

According to Uong Chu Luu, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, districts and communes that do not meet the both criteria on acreage and population will be rearranged in 2019.

The rest will be rearranged in the next two years./.

By Kim Anh