Ministry of Interior denies information that it will continue to merge 16 provinces and cities

The representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs affirmed that the policy of rearranging administrative units had been carefully researched and considered before implementation and aimed at long-term stability of the administrative unit system.

In response to information circulating on social networks that the merger from 34 provinces to 16 provinces and cities will continue, a representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed that this is false information.

According to Mr. Phan Trung Tuan, Director of the Department of Local Government (Ministry of Home Affairs), currently the Party, National Assembly , and Government have no policy to continue to reorganize and merge provinces, cities, or commune-level administrative units. The information about reorganizing from 34 provinces and cities to 16 provinces and cities in the coming period is completely inaccurate.

In addition to the goal of streamlining the organizational apparatus, streamlining the payroll, reducing budget expenditures for the apparatus; opening up new space and space for development for localities, Mr. Phan Trung Tuan affirmed that the revolution in arranging administrative units at all levels to be implemented in early 2025 also aims at long-term stability of the administrative unit system. This major policy has been carefully studied and considered by the Party, the National Assembly, and the Government before implementation.

"With the drastic participation of the entire political system, from July 1, the two-level local government model (including provincial and commune/ward levels) has officially operated in all provinces and cities. The country has 34 provinces/cities and 3,321 communes, wards and special zones," said the Director of the Department of Local Government.

Mr. Phan Trung Tuan added that the Ministry of Home Affairs is currently drafting a Decree guiding the collection of public opinions on the establishment, dissolution, merger, division, boundary adjustment and renaming of administrative units to replace Decree No. 54/2018/ND-CP and Decree No. 66/2023/ND-CP. Accordingly, the draft decree does not have an appendix with a list of arrangements and mergers from 34 provinces and cities to 16 provinces and cities as is being spread on social networking sites.

The drafting of this decree is to implement the provisions of the Law on Organization of Local Government No. 72/2025/QH15 and Decision No. 1589/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister promulgating the Plan to implement the Law on Organization of Local Government No. 72/2025/QH15.

Mr. Phan Trung Tuan added that the Law on Organization of Local Government has fundamentally changed, as it stipulates that our country's administrative units are organized into two levels, including: Provinces and centrally-run cities (provincial level); communes, wards, and special zones under the provincial level (commune level). Accordingly, in the system of administrative units, there are no longer district-level administrative units, and at the same time, a new type of special zone (commune level) is stipulated.

However, Decree No. 54/2018/ND-CP and Decree No. 66/2023/ND-CP mentioned above are being designed to guide the collection of voters' opinions on the establishment, dissolution, merger, division, and adjustment of administrative boundaries according to the 3-level model (provincial-district-commune level). Therefore, it is necessary to issue a new Government decree to provide specific implementation instructions.

The drafting and submission to the Government for promulgation of this decree aims to guide the collection of voters' opinions on common cases of establishment, dissolution, merger, division, and adjustment of administrative unit boundaries.

Mr. Phan Trung Tuan said the new regulations will be applied in the case of establishing wards on the basis of communes (rural) when communes meet enough standards and conditions to be upgraded to wards (urban); the adjustment of administrative boundaries in cases of real necessity due to changes in geological and topographical impacts or impacts from socio-economic development must be adjusted to suit management practices... and not for the purpose of arranging and merging administrative units at all levels as false information has spread on social networks recently./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/bo-noi-vu-bac-bo-thong-tin-se-tiep-tuc-sap-nhap-con-16-tinh-thanh-post1077363.vnp