Quang Nam authorities look directly at limitations to find solutions to overcome them

Scene of the explanation session organized by the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council. Photo: D.A

That was one of the assessments of the Provincial People's Committee at the explanation meeting organized by the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council last weekend on "The situation and results of implementing a number of tasks under the province's responsibility in the administrative reform program (AR) for the period 2021 - 2025". This is the first explanation meeting organized by the Provincial People's Council in the term 2021 - 2026.

Comrade Nguyen Duc Dung - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Council Tran Xuan Vinh, Nguyen Cong Thanh chaired the meeting. Attending the meeting were Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation Le Van Dung, and Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Committee Phan Thai Binh , Tran Nam Hung, Tran Anh Tuan.

Many limitations

Mr. Ha Duc Tien - Head of the Legal Department of the Provincial People's Council said that in recent years, implementing the policies and regulations of the Central Government, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Council, the Provincial People's Committee has focused on directing and promoting the implementation of tasks in the administrative reform program, focusing on tasks such as perfecting institutions; reforming administrative procedures (TTHC), organizing the apparatus, public finance; promoting digital transformation, applying information technology in state management.

Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Nguyen Duc Dung speaks at the meeting. Photo: VINH ANH

However, after more than 3 years of implementing the program for the 2021 - 2025 period, administrative reform work in the province still has many noteworthy limitations. That is, it has not created a major breakthrough; the ranking results of the province's administrative reform indexes are still at a low position.

Administrative procedures in some areas are still cumbersome; handling administrative procedures in many places does not meet requirements; implementation of the one-stop shop and inter-connected one-stop shop mechanisms in some agencies, units and localities is not effective...

According to Ms. Tran Thi Kim Hoa - Director of the Department of Home Affairs, although the Provincial People's Committee has issued remedial plans, the province's public administration assessment indexes have continuously decreased over the years; some component criteria have low scores and no improvement.

Accordingly, the province's Administrative Reform Index (PAR INDEX) in 2023 reached 84.6 points, ranking 56/63 provinces and cities (in which the field of administrative procedure reform ranked 62/63); Satisfaction Index on Administrative Services (SIPAR) ranked 59/63.

In particular, the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) of Quang Nam province ranked 48th, down 17 places compared to 2022, belonging to the group of provinces with "average - low" scores.

According to Ms. Hoa, administrative procedure reform is still a weakness in the province's administrative reform work due to slow announcement and disclosure of administrative procedures and high rate of overdue records.

Of the 8 content indicators of the PAR INDEX, 1 index is in the “medium-high” group (public service provision), 2 content indicators are in the “medium-low” group (grassroots citizen participation; environmental governance), and 5 content indicators are in the “low” group (transparency; accountability to citizens; control of corruption in the public sector; public administrative procedures; e-governance).

Need to see clearly the responsibility

At the explanation session, the Provincial People's Committee received many questions from the Provincial People's Council delegates about solutions to improve the PAR index. These included investing in equipment, upgrading telecommunications infrastructure and software for administrative reform; implementing online public services in mountainous areas still facing many difficulties; overdue, late, and slow processing of documents in the fields of land and environment...

People log in to the Public Service Portal with their VNeID account to submit administrative procedures online. Photo: VINH ANH

Mr. Nguyen Cong Thanh - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council said that through monitoring and supervision, it shows that the province's online public services still have many problems. With online public services, if only State investment in infrastructure is not enough, but also the awareness, knowledge of the people, telecommunications infrastructure...

Mr. Thanh stated that the current situation in handling administrative procedures is that doing it directly is faster than doing it online, so if we want to change, we have to make online faster than in person, only then will we encourage and attract people to use it.

Mr. Phan Thai Binh - Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said that in the province's administrative reform, the issued procedures are quite complete but the downgrade is due to the implementation. First of all, the sense of responsibility, attitude, and public ethics are issues that need to be considered and evaluated in substance.

The situation of late appointments and delays... is due to some cases of slow file transfer, unclear responsibilities, asking for opinions many times... Therefore, it is necessary to reform and improve the sense of responsibility and public ethics.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Van Dung speaks at the explanation meeting. Photo: VINH ANH

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Van Dung said that the province's administrative reform indexes are low and have fallen in rank due to many reasons such as cumbersome and overlapping administrative procedures. The processing of administrative procedure records at the one-stop-shop department is still slow and roundabout, not to mention that there are places where there is harassment and difficulties. Some officials and leaders are hesitant and do not dare to sign the records, so they are late...

In the coming time, the Provincial People's Committee will resolutely not issue additional unnecessary procedures, which are not regulated by law, and will cut down on some cumbersome procedures. At the same time, it will direct the sectors to issue specific procedures for handling procedures, clearly identifying people, clearly identifying tasks, clearly identifying time, to conduct supervision and handling in the fields of investment, granting mineral exploitation licenses, measuring and adjusting land, etc.

Concluding the meeting, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Nguyen Duc Dung requested the Provincial People's Committee, departments, branches and localities to "look straight at the truth, dare to speak the truth and have fundamental solutions" to overcome limitations.

Comrade Nguyen Duc Dung said: “In fact, Quang Nam's indexes are too low, while other localities have similar conditions, and many localities even have more difficulties. Why can they do it? I suggest that you think about it. If you always think that it is due to objective reasons and do not see the determination and responsibility of relevant departments and individuals... then surely the contents of today's explanation cannot be resolved in a day or two.”

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/phien-hop-giai-trinh-ve-cai-cach-hanh-chinh-chinh-quyen-quang-nam-n-hin-thang-han-che-de-co-giai-phap-khac-phuc-3141638.html