After abolishing the district level, Vietnam will have 13 special economic zones.

On the morning of May 7, continuing the program of the 9th session of the 15th National Assembly, the Minister of Home Affairs , authorized by the Prime Minister, will present the draft law on Organization of Local Government (amended).

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra

PHOTO: GIA HAN

What are the 13 special economic zones?

The draft law is amended in the direction of not organizing the district level, the local government model has only 2 levels including province and commune.

In which, the provincial level remains as current regulations, including provinces and cities. The communal level includes communes, wards and special zones (organized on islands). Along with that is the special economic-administrative unit, which remains as current regulations and is established by decision of the National Assembly .

According to document No. 03/CV-BCĐ of the Steering Committee for the arrangement of administrative units at all levels and the construction of a 2-level local government organization model, island districts and island cities will be converted into 13 special zones, including: Phu Quoc and Tho Chau (Kien Giang province); Van Don, Co To (Quang Ninh province); Cat Hai, Bach Long Vi (Hai Phong city); Truong Sa (Khanh Hoa province); Hoang Sa (Da Nang city); Phu Quy (Binh Thuan province); Kien Hai (Kien Giang province); Con Co (Quang Tri province); Ly Son (Quang Ngai province) and Con Dao ( Ba Ria - Vung Tau province).

For provincial authorities, to consistently implement the principle of "local decision, local action, local responsibility", in addition to current tasks and powers, the draft law adds a number of provisions to promote decentralization from the Central Government to provincial authorities, especially in promulgating mechanisms, policies, planning, finance, budget, investment, etc. at the local level.

Meanwhile, the commune-level local government will perform the tasks and powers of the current district-level and commune-level local government; and issue legal documents to decide on issues within the authority, scope, and management tasks of the commune-level local government.

The People's Committee and the Chairman of the People's Committee at the provincial level are responsible for promoting decentralization and delegating their tasks and powers to the People's Committee and the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level; especially the local government at the ward level to manage and develop urban areas and the local government in special zones to ensure independence, sovereignty, and national territorial integrity in sea and island areas...

Delegates at the 9th session of the 15th National Assembly

PHOTO: GIA HAN

Avoid the situation where there are more leaders than followers.

The draft law increases the maximum number of provincial People's Council delegates (from 75 to 90 delegates) and commune-level People's Council delegates (from 30 to 35 delegates).

Examining this content, the Law and Justice Committee said that many opinions agreed with increasing the number of People's Council delegates at the provincial and communal levels to ensure conformity with the scale of provincial and communal administrative units after the rearrangement.

However, there are also opinions that the increase is not really suitable with the policy of streamlining the apparatus in the current period, and it is recommended to keep the current regulations.

Regarding organizational structure, the draft law stipulates that based on criteria on population size, natural area, socio-economic conditions, etc., the People's Committee at the commune level is allowed to organize specialized agencies, other administrative organizations or arrange specialized civil servant positions to advise and assist the People's Committee at the commune level in sectors and fields in the commune level according to Government regulations.

The Law and Justice Committee believes that with the expansion of scale and the addition of more tasks and powers to local authorities at the commune level, the establishment of an advisory apparatus is necessary.

However, the review agency also stated that the regulations on how to establish specialized agencies and how many they should have flexibility based on requirements, workload, minimum number of staff to establish an organization (department level) and maximum number of deputy leaders. This is to avoid the situation of organizational division, apparatus, and the number of leaders being greater than the number of civil servants directly executing.

In addition, there are suggestions to study and organize the office of the People's Council and People's Committee to perform the task of advising and assisting the People's Council and People's Committee at the commune level, without necessarily establishing specialized departments.