What to name when merging provinces?

On February 28, the Politburo and the Secretariat issued Conclusion 127 on implementing research and proposing to continue to reorganize the apparatus of the political system, including researching the orientation of merging a number of provincial-level units, ensuring streamlining, efficiency, effectiveness and efficiency.

At the regular February Government meeting held on March 5, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested agencies to complete the project to rearrange administrative boundaries, including merging some provinces, in order to request the Politburo and Secretariat's approval before March 9.

The policy of merging some provinces has received public support because it is identified as an opportunity to reorganize the national development space at the local level to meet the requirements of double-digit economic growth. Therefore, the implementation process will certainly have challenges and barriers that need to be identified and overcome in order to have more perspectives on the implementation of this policy.

According to National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (Hai Duong Delegation), changing the name and administrative boundaries is certainly not just a title. A province that changes its name will generate a lot of personal documents for the people and certainly the documents will have to be redone.

“For example, if two or three units merge, I do not want a completely new name. Instead, based on many aspects, choose a name, keep one name out of three local names, then at least one-third will not be affected and we do not have to change documents,” said the female delegate of Hai Duong.

Agreeing that the name is an issue that is receiving attention when merging provinces, Dr. Nguyen Thi Huong, former Deputy Director of the Institute of Administrative Science, National Academy of Public Administration, now Academy of Public Administration and Management (under Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics) said that the names of localities are associated with the people and are the names of a part of culture and shape specific values, it is even a source of pride, as well as economic and social brands.

“Among them, there are names that are internationally registered trademarks. Therefore, if we change the name of the province or city after the merger, it will affect all of those factors and this is also something that needs to be considered. Therefore, in the steps of preparing for the merger, careful research to propose a reasonable name must be based on the most basic and common characteristics of the locality, at the same time, there must be analysis and public opinion on the cultural and historical significance, as well as opportunities for international integration. The new name must be understood by the people and shared and agreed upon. That will cause unnecessary public opinion,” said Dr. Huong.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Huong gave an example of the principles in the arrangement and merger of a country with a political model similar to Vietnam. In particular, China has a population 15 times larger than Vietnam but only has 34 provincial-level administrative units, including 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 centrally-run cities and two special administrative regions. In particular, Xinjiang is the province with the largest area, but its population is only 24th, while Guangdong has the 15th natural area but its population is the largest. According to Dr. Huong, this is a story that is not simply based on natural area and population size but is based on the first political principle, the second economic principle and the third national principle.

“When we aim for a modern, efficient, effective and efficient public administration to merge provincial administrative units as stated by the Prime Minister, the two criteria of population size and natural area have been stipulated by law. In addition, criteria such as national culture, national security and defense position and especially economic development criteria also need to be taken seriously, especially when we are aiming for regional economic thinking and regional culture. Therefore, the rearrangement of administrative boundaries is not only based on areas and population but also needs to focus on creating a favorable space for development and connecting resources to exploit the potential of each region,” Dr. Huong analyzed.

According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Huong, merging administrative units at any level will face many challenges, the most difficult of which is the construction, organization and operation of the apparatus, with the core factor being the human resources. As administrative boundaries expand, economic, social, cultural and other conditions, including both advantages and disadvantages, must be taken into account. Therefore, the human resources must also meet many criteria to be able to effectively perform their duties, authority and new tasks in their positions and jobs. Therefore, the selection of personnel, especially personnel in leadership and management positions, must be truly fair and objective.

“Those personnel must be people with local management thinking, strategic vision, good human resource management capacity without falling into administrative management and control of talented, dedicated, and aspiring people. They must also be people with leadership thinking, flexible management, and adaptive capacity to go beyond the local scope of a province or city,” said Dr. Huong.

So, how should the reorganization of the provincial model be placed in relation to the region? National Assembly delegate Viet Nga said that when implementing the merger, it is necessary to ensure the most favorable criteria for socio-economic development, while taking into account many factors from the economic, cultural, historical characteristics of each region, as well as regional planning and future common development space for each province. Because if regional planning is not taken into account, it is difficult to talk about development space and development axis.

“If we only base on superficial criteria such as area or population without taking into account development space, it can easily lead to a situation of mechanical addition,” said Ms. Nga.