Stop merging districts and communes according to old standards

In a document sent to provinces and cities on March 23, the Ministry of Home Affairs also proposed to temporarily stop classifying administrative units at all levels according to the old standards.

Localities are requested to temporarily suspend the appraisal and acceptance of dossiers and maps of administrative boundaries at all levels and create new, edit and supplement dossiers and maps of administrative boundaries at all levels according to the resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the arrangement of each administrative unit at district and commune levels in the 2023-2025 period.

In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs proposed to temporarily suspend the construction of the master plan for district and commune-level administrative units for the period up to 2030 and vision to 2045 until there is a new policy from the competent authority.

The above requirements only apply to cases where a project to merge districts and communes is being carried out according to the old standards previously issued by the National Assembly Standing Committee.

According to the regulations of the National Assembly Standing Committee from 2016, amended and supplemented in 2022, the standard for mountainous and highland districts is a population of 80,000 and an area of ​​850 km2; a plain district has a population of 120,000 and an area of ​​450 km2. Districts must have 13 commune-level administrative units, including at least one town.

Mountainous and highland commune standards: population 5,000, area 50 km2; plain communes: population 8,000, area 30 km2.

Recently, many localities have merged districts and communes based on this standard. Meanwhile, on March 20, the Central Steering Committee on the summary of Resolution 18 assigned the Government Party Committee to complete the submission and project on rearranging administrative units at all levels and building a two-level local government organization model, and report to the Politburo before March 25. After that, the Government Party Committee received the Politburo's opinions, completed the submission and project, and reported to the Central Executive Committee before April 1.

The Government Party Committee will direct and guide the development and completion of the Project on the arrangement and merger of provincial and communal administrative units (specific functions, tasks, organizational structure, staffing; arrangement of staff, offices, official residences; handling of assets, offices, etc.).

It is expected that the National Assembly Standing Committee will pass a resolution on the arrangement of commune-level administrative units and the National Assembly will pass a resolution on the merger of provincial-level administrative units before June 30.