The Ministry of Home Affairs proposes that the new commune-level People's Committees have 5 specialized agencies.

According to the draft submission of the Law on Organization of Local Government (amended) posted on the Ministry of Home Affairs' electronic information portal on March 24 to collect public opinions, the ministry proposed that the People's Committee at the grassroots level have 5 specialized agencies including: (1) Office (advising on the implementation of general tasks of the Party Committee, People's Council, and People's Committee at the grassroots level); (2) Economic Department (for communes and special zones) or Economic, Infrastructure and Urban Department (for wards and special zones in Phu Quoc); (3) Department of Home Affairs - Justice; (4) Department of Culture - Society and (5) Public Administration Service Center.

The regulations on the organizational structure of the People's Council and People's Committee at the grassroots level (commune, ward, special zone) are basically designed as for the People's Council and People's Committee at the district level (before dissolution) but on a smaller scale. Accordingly, the maximum number of delegates of the People's Council at the grassroots level is 40 people (except for isolated communes that are not reorganized and have a small population, it is basically the same as the current law). The People's Council at the grassroots level has 2 committees: the Legal Committee and the Economic - Social Committee.

Also according to the draft submission of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the draft law amends and supplements regulations on the organization of administrative units and the 2-level local government model (including: provincial and grassroots levels, not organized at district level) suitable for urban, rural, island areas, and special administrative-economic units.

Provincial level remains as per current regulations (including: provinces, centrally-run cities), but merges some provincial administrative units to ensure meeting prescribed standards, and at the same time to expand development space.

Reorganize current commune-level administrative units to form grassroots administrative units (including communes, wards and special zones on islands; abolish towns) with natural areas and population sizes reaching 300% or more of commune-level standards according to current regulations.

Special administrative-economic units are established according to current regulations by decision of the National Assembly.

The draft law stipulates that local governments at provincial and grassroots levels both organize People's Councils and People's Committees. Amend regulations related to the division of tasks and powers of local governments at provincial and grassroots levels and promote decentralization and delegation between the Central and local governments and between provincial and grassroots local governments. On the basis of the 2-level local government model (including: provincial and grassroots levels), clearly define the tasks and powers of each level of local government in the direction: The provincial level focuses on promulgating mechanisms, policies, strategies, planning, macro-management, inter-regional and inter-base issues that exceed the capacity of the grassroots to resolve, require specialized expertise and ensure consistency across the province.

The grassroots level is the level of policy implementation (from the central and provincial levels), focusing on tasks serving the people, directly solving community problems, providing basic and essential public services to local people; tasks that require community participation, promoting the initiative and creativity of the grassroots level.

For provincial-level local authorities, in addition to the tasks and powers of provincial-level local authorities according to current regulations, some tasks and powers of district-level local authorities (before dissolution) that exceed the implementation capacity of grassroots-level local authorities (newly arranged) will be transferred to supplement provincial-level local authorities. Through review, it is expected that about 15% of the current tasks and powers of district-level local authorities must be transferred to provincial-level local authorities for implementation and 85% of the remaining tasks and powers will be transferred to grassroots-level local authorities for implementation (in addition to the tasks and powers of commune-level local authorities according to current regulations).

The provincial-level local government basically maintains the current regulations. The draft law only increases the appropriate number of provincial-level People's Council delegates to match the merger of provincial-level administrative units.

To consistently implement the principle of "local decision, local action, local responsibility", the draft law stipulates that based on practical situations, provincial-level local authorities should promote decentralization and delegate their tasks and powers to grassroots-level local authorities to improve the governance capacity of the grassroots level, enhance efficiency, effectiveness and efficiency in state management and promote local socio-economic development; In particular, it is necessary to promote decentralization and authorization to local ward authorities to manage and develop urban areas and urban economy, and to promote decentralization and authorization to local authorities of special zones to grant autonomy in state management in island areas, ensuring flexibility and proactive response when sudden and unexpected events and situations occur in order to firmly protect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country in seas and islands, promote the advantages and potential of the marine economy, integrate into the international economy, and ensure attracting people to live, protect and develop the islands.

View draft submission of the Law on Organization of Local Government (amended)HERE.