'Must completely change the mindset and skills of operating two-level local government'

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra requested local authorities to completely change their thinking, methods, operational skills, and local governance thinking with decentralization and delegation of power tasks.

On the afternoon of November 9, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra worked with the People's Committee of Lao Cai province on the results of the implementation of the 10-month socio- economic development plan, key tasks for the last months of 2025; disbursement of capital for basic construction and implementation of two-level local government.

Reporting at the working session, Chairman of Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee Tran Huy Tuan stated that the socio-economic situation of Lao Cai in the past 10 months has been basically stable and has shown positive signs.

In the first 9 months of the year, the GRDP growth rate reached 7.38%, ranking 4th out of 9 localities in the Northern Midlands and Mountains region, and 22nd out of 34 provinces and cities. The economic scale at current prices reached 102 trillion VND, ranking 3rd out of 9 in the region and 25th out of 34 provinces and cities.

Disbursement of public investment capital reached VND 7,618 billion, equal to 49.3% of the plan assigned by the province. Particularly for the capital plan assigned by the Prime Minister , disbursement reached VND 6,419 billion, equal to 70.1% of the plan (ranked 5th out of 34 provinces and cities). The system of public administrative service centers at all levels operated stably and smoothly; the rate of handling records on time and before the deadline was high (over 97%).

In particular, the commune level has promoted its role of being close to the people, handling a large volume of documents with an on-time completion rate of nearly 98%, affirming the effectiveness of the 2-level local government model.

In addition to the achieved results, the socio-economic situation of Lao Cai still has some difficulties in the fields of industry; import and export; natural disasters and epidemics in the area continue to develop complicatedly and unpredictably...

In particular, in the implementation of the two-level government, the staff specialized in land administration, finance, and construction is still limited. The facilities, offices, conference halls, and working equipment of some communes do not meet the requirements. In some communes, the arrangement of the working headquarters of the Party Committee, People's Committee, and other agencies and units is far from each other (at the headquarters of the communes and wards before the merger), making it difficult to direct and operate.

The Chairman of the Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee requested the Deputy Prime Minister and the Government's working delegation to pay attention to researching and having preferential investment policies to encourage and attract domestic and foreign investors to implement key local projects in order to shift the economic structure, promote growth and socio-economic development in areas and areas with many difficulties.

In particular, to ensure effective operation of the two-level government after the administrative unit arrangement, the locality proposed that the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance consider and support a budget of 3,000 billion VND from the central budget to repair and renovate headquarters, public houses, and purchase equipment for agencies, units, communes, and wards.

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra highly appreciated the results Lao Cai has achieved in socio-economic development associated with social progress and equity; political security, social order and safety, foreign relations; and the operation of the two-level local government has achieved many exciting and impressive results.

In particular, regarding the two-level local government, the Deputy Prime Minister requested local governments to completely change their thinking, methods, operational skills, and local governance thinking with decentralization and delegation tasks; focus on digital transformation; promote autonomy, self-management, and self-responsibility of the community; create innovation with the driving force from local governments. Lao Cai needs to continue to review, evaluate, and restructure the existing staff, especially commune-level staff; and strengthen and enhance the quality of operations of commune-level local governments.

The Deputy Prime Minister acknowledged Lao Cai province's proposal on repairing and renovating headquarters and public housing, and purchasing equipment for agencies, units, communes and wards, and said he would review and synthesize the proposals at localities to have a support plan.

View of the working session. (Photo: Huong Thu/VNA)

There is not much time left in 2025. To achieve the set results, Lao Cai needs to fully and comprehensively identify the province's advantages after the merger to create momentum for regional development; pay attention to building programs and strategic projects for development in the next 5-10 years.

Regarding the disbursement of capital for basic construction, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra requested Lao Cai to strive to achieve 95-100% of the plan assigned by the government in 2025. The locality needs to continue focusing on administrative reform and administrative procedures; promoting science and technology, innovation, and digital economy; prioritizing the development of transport infrastructure and digital infrastructure; attracting quality human resources; and promoting the role of border communes and ethnic minorities in border areas./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/phai-thay-doi-hoan-toan-tu-duy-ky-nang-van-hanh-chinh-quyen-dia-phuong-2-cap-post1075957.vnp