The whole country will have 11 provincial special zones after administrative unit arrangement.

A tourist destination in the south of Phu Quoc Island. Photo: SG

Politburo member and Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh has just signed Decision No. 759/QD-TTg dated April 14, 2025 approving the Project on rearranging and reorganizing administrative units (ADUs) at all levels and building a 2-level local government organization model.

Regarding the plan to reorganize commune-level administrative units, Decision No. 759/QD-TTg clearly states:

Based on the orientation of the Politburo and the Secretariat in Conclusion No. 127-KL/TW dated February 28, 2025, Conclusion No. 130-KL/TW dated March 14, 2025, Conclusion No. 137-KL/TW dated March 28, 2025 and Resolution No. 60-NQ/TW of the 11th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee, the Government has thoroughly researched and completed the multi-dimensional approach with innovative thinking, thereby proposing principles for organizing, arranging and reorganizing current commune-level administrative units into new commune-level administrative units, as follows:

Arrange and reorganize current commune-level administrative units in the direction of eliminating the intermediate level (district level), forming new commune-level administrative units, including communes, wards and special zones (no longer have the type of administrative units of provincial cities, centrally-run cities, towns, districts, counties and townships).

After the rearrangement, the commune-level administrative unit must ensure that the local government at the commune level effectively manages the area, has a firm grasp of the situation, is close to the people, and serves the people best. In the case of rearranging wards with administrative units at the same level, the new administrative unit after the rearrangement is the ward; in the case of rearranging communes and towns, the new administrative unit after the rearrangement is the commune.

Convert the current island districts and island cities into commune-level administrative units called special zones. Accordingly, 11 special zones under the province will be formed from island districts (11 island districts include: Van Don, Co To, Cat Hai, Truong Sa, Hoang Sa, Phu Quy, Kien Hai, Bach Long Vi, Con Co, Ly Son, Con Dao).

Particularly for Phu Quoc city, Kien Giang province, the competent authority has agreed to separate Tho Chau commune of Phu Quoc city to establish a separate district, accordingly studying the establishment of 2 special zones: Phu Quoc and Tho Chau.

In case the arrangement of commune-level administrative units changes the boundaries of district-level administrative units, it is not necessary to consider the conditions and standards and it is not necessary to follow the process and procedures for adjusting the boundaries of the district-level administrative units to which the commune-level administrative units belong.

It is not mandatory to arrange for commune-level administrative units that are isolated and difficult to organize traffic connections with adjacent administrative units or have especially important locations that affect national defense, security and the protection of national sovereignty.

The total number of administrative units of communes and wards after the rearrangement will be reduced by about 60-70% compared to the current number of administrative units at the commune level in the province or centrally-run city; at the same time, it must ensure a reasonable correlation, avoiding creating large gaps and differences in natural area and population size between the new communes and wards after the rearrangement.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/ca-nuoc-se-co-11-dac-khu-thuoc-tinh-sau-sap-xep-don-vi-hanh-chinh-698986.html