Minister of Home Affairs: A national conference will be held to implement the merger of provincial-level administrative units.

Following the Central Committee meeting, there will be a national conference to implement the merger of provincial-level administrative units and the reorganization of commune-level administrative units.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra. (Photo: Pham Thang)

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra said that after the Politburo meeting agreed on the principle of rearranging and reorganizing administrative units at all levels and building a two-tiered local government model, the Party Committee of the Government sent the proposal to ministries, sectors, and localities for comments, then compiled and reported to the Central Committee, expected in mid-April 2025. Following the Central Committee meeting, there will be a national conference to implement the merger of provincial-level administrative units and the rearrangement of commune-level administrative units.

Therefore, the task of the ministries and agencies is to focus on issuing relevant guiding documents within their authority and responsibility, as a basis for implementing the merger and restructuring after the Central Committee meeting.

Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra stated that this is not difficult because there is experience in rearranging administrative units at the district and commune levels in previous instances. Now, it is only necessary to continue adjusting, expanding, and supplementing to clarify and suit the scale of merging provincial-level administrative units and reorganizing commune-level administrative units.

"Following the Politburo meeting, all relevant issues, including the number of provincial-level administrative units that need to be reorganized and merged, have become clear. At the same time, the model of a two-tiered local government (provincial and sub-provincial levels) has also become clear, as has the reorganization of commune-level administrative units, or grassroots levels, to ensure efficiency," the Minister said.

According to her, there are currently 10,035 commune-level administrative units, but they will be reorganized to reduce the number to approximately 2,000, with each commune being "almost a small district." Matters related to the reorganization of commune-level administrative units fall under the authority of the National Assembly Standing Committee. This can be done immediately after the Central Committee meeting. Therefore, ministries and agencies must focus on providing guidance on all relevant documents. This must be done very urgently, and ministries must send the documents to the Ministry of Interior early to prepare for the national conference following the Central Committee meeting.

According to Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Tra, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh, Head of the Steering Committee for the implementation of the reorganization of administrative units at all levels and the construction of a two-tiered local government model, will urgently direct all ministries and ministerial-level agencies to review all legal documents (laws, decrees). If specialized laws relate to the authority of district-level administrative units, they must be addressed through a resolution. This review must be carried out very quickly to compile a report for the Ministry of Justice to propose to the Government to submit to the National Assembly a resolution to address issues related to specialized laws on the organization of administrative units at all levels.