Expected to complete the merger of provincial administrative units before August 30

At the meeting of the Government's Steering Committee on Science, Technology, Innovation, Digital Transformation and Project 06 on the morning of March 18, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra said that the whole country will complete the merger of commune-level administrative units before June 30 and operate new communes and wards from July 1.

Accordingly, Ms. Tra said that the arrangement of provincial-level administrative units, reorganization of commune-level administrative units and organization of two-level local governments are being implemented carefully, thoroughly, urgently and effectively.

"It is expected that we will complete the entire arrangement of commune-level administrative units before June 30, so that by July 1, commune-level administrative units will operate under the new organization.

"Complete the merger of provincial administrative units before August 30, so that the operation of provincial administrative units can begin immediately from September 1," Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra informed.

According to Ms. Tra, the arrangement of provincial and communal administrative units and the organization of two-level local governments "must be cautious, thorough, urgent, and effective". The process of organizing two-level local governments is being implemented in the spirit of "running and lining up at the same time", meeting the requirements of the Politburo, the Central Committee, the Government, and the Prime Minister.

The Minister of Home Affairs hopes to receive close coordination from ministries and branches to promptly guide localities in the process of implementing this "extremely important and urgent" task.

Ministries reduce 22,000 staff after streamlining

The Minister of Home Affairs said that after the streamlining, ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government agencies have reduced 22,323 positions after the streamlining process, equivalent to 20% of the total position. The ministries and branches have reduced 13 general departments and equivalent organizations, 519 departments, 219 departments, 3,303 branches and 203 public service units. The National Assembly's resolution passed in mid-February determined that the Government after the streamlining will have 14 ministries and 3 ministerial-level agencies, a reduction of 5 focal points compared to the beginning of the term.

To date, all ministries, sectors and localities have completed the approval of job position projects, including 840 positions in administrative agencies and organizations; 559 positions in public service units and 17 positions for commune-level officials and civil servants.

Localities have also reduced 343 specialized agencies and equivalents under the provincial People's Committee, along with 1,454 specialized agencies under the district People's Committee.

Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra emphasized that reforming the organizational apparatus is a "real revolution in the entire political system".

After the National Assembly promulgated the Law on Government Organization (amended) and the Law on Local Government Organization (amended), clearly regulating decentralization and delegation of power, the Government was assigned the task of promulgating decrees amending specialized laws to specify this policy.

However, the Ministry of Home Affairs pointed out that currently, specialized laws still have overlapping issues, not really meeting the goal of decentralization and delegation of power. Statistics show that there are up to 177 specialized laws regulating the authority of ministers, causing difficulties in the implementation process. Similarly, 154 specialized laws specifically regulate the authority of the Prime Minister and 92 specialized laws regulate the authority of People's Councils and People's Committees.

Faced with this situation, the Minister of Home Affairs requested ministries and branches to drastically speed up the issuance of decrees on decentralization and delegation of power, following the principle of "locality decides, locality implements and takes responsibility". At the same time, it is necessary to create conditions to "untie" officials to improve management and operation efficiency.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Home Affairs will focus on advising the Government to deploy the arrangement of provincial-level administrative units, reorganize the commune level and build a two-level local government model "carefully, thoroughly and with quality".

On February 28, the Politburo and the Secretariat issued Conclusion 127, assigning the Government Party Committee to coordinate with the Central Organizing Committee, the National Assembly Party Committee, the Fatherland Front Party Committee, central mass organizations and relevant agencies to direct the research, develop a project, and submit to the Politburo on merging a number of provincial-level administrative units, not organizing at the district level; continue to merge commune-level administrative units. On March 11, the Government Party Committee agreed to submit to competent authorities a plan to merge and reduce 50% of provincial-level administrative units and 60-70% of grassroots-level units compared to present.