Ho Chi Minh City needs strong decentralization to promote maximum autonomy.
(HMC) - Continuing the series of workshops to gather opinions on the draft Law on Special Urban Areas, on the afternoon of May 28, the Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Van Duoc, and the Member of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee and Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Manh Cuong, chaired a workshop to gather opinions from former leaders of the city.
Báo Sài Gòn Giải phóng•28/05/2026
Opening the workshop, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Manh Cuong stated that Ho Chi Minh City wanted to hear many opinions to help the drafting committee update and supplement the draft Law on Special Urban Areas to closely reflect reality and meet the requirements in the new context and situation.
Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Manh Cuong delivers a welcoming speech. Photo: Ho Chi Minh City Information Portal.
With their extensive experience and practical expertise in management and administration, the opinions of former central and city leaders will provide Ho Chi Minh City with a stronger basis for refining the draft law in a rigorous manner, meeting requirements and expectations.
Emphasizing the view that the Special Urban Area Law should not only address difficulties and obstacles but also form a comprehensive and unified institutional framework, the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City hope that former leaders will focus their opinions on truly unique policies to help the city achieve outstanding development and fulfill its leading role in the country.
Ho Chi Minh City needs strong decentralization to maximize its autonomy.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Justice, presented a summary of the Law on Special Urban Areas before the delegates offered their comments.
Speaking at the workshop, former Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee and former Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, Pham Phuong Thao, suggested that the draft Law on Special Cities needs to increase the authority, mechanisms, and policy resources to promote maximum autonomy for the city.
Specifically, it is necessary to clearly define the functions of departments and agencies as state management bodies according to their respective sectors and fields, not just advisory bodies. Departments and agencies should both provide advice and have a management role according to their sectors and fields to reduce the need to seek opinions from the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City.
Former Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee and former Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, Pham Phuong Thao, offered her comments and suggestions.
Commenting on the issue of human resources, Ms. Thao suggested that the focus should be on changing the working environment, not just on salaries. For example, if experts are placed within the administrative system but are still managed through timekeeping, without the autonomy to decide on ideas, capabilities, personnel, or research conditions, then it will be difficult to achieve effectiveness.
"The city needs to institutionalize the right of experts to effectively implement innovative ideas in order to create genuine breakthroughs," Ms. Thao stated.
Discussing this issue, former Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee and former Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam, argued that a change in management thinking regarding organizational structure and personnel is necessary; granting genuine autonomy to the People's Council and People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City in deciding on job positions and staffing levels suitable to the unique characteristics of a special urban area, in order to maximize the capacity and intelligence of the staff.
Former Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee and former Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam, presented the issues of concern.
In her detailed comments on the draft, Ms. Tâm suggested replacing the phrase "thorough decentralization and delegation of power" with "sufficiently strong decentralization and delegation of power" to better reflect the city's practical situation.
Previously, Pham Chanh Truc, former Standing Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee and former Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, suggested that the scope and name of the Law on Special Urban Areas associated with Ho Chi Minh City should be amended and clarified; it should be revised to "Law on Special Urban Areas of Ho Chi Minh City".
Most of the suggestions from former leaders of Ho Chi Minh City emphasized the need to supplement and clarify regulations on thorough decentralization and delegation of power to the city, so that the city can proactively maximize its resources for development.
The Law on Special Urban Areas selectively inherits and enhances the strengths of Ho Chi Minh City.
In his concluding remarks at the workshop on drafting the Law on Special Urban Areas, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc expressed his appreciation for the heartfelt and responsible opinions from former leaders of the Central Government and the City. He stated that the early promulgation of the Law on Special Urban Areas is the wish and expectation of the Central Government, the Party Committee, and the people of the City.
Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, Nguyen Van Duoc, shared that the Law on Special Urban Areas was developed based on selectively inheriting and promoting the strengths of Ho Chi Minh City.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc, Ho Chi Minh City is a pioneer in innovation, experimenting with many new mechanisms and policies, and forming many economic models that are concretized by legal mechanisms and policies. The dynamism of generations of leaders over the years has contributed to helping the city's economy maintain high growth for many years.
He stated that Resolution 09 of the Politburo on building and developing Ho Chi Minh City in the new era has opened up opportunities for Ho Chi Minh City to develop a Law on Special Urban Areas.
However, this is also a high-pressure task due to its new content and broad scope ( such as underground space development; mechanisms for mobilizing municipal bonds, etc.) while the preparation time is tight. Therefore, the City must finalize the draft in time to submit it to the Ministry of Justice for appraisal in June before reporting to the Government and relevant agencies.
Regarding the direction of lawmaking, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City suggested that agencies boldly propose superior mechanisms and policies while still ensuring compliance with the Constitution. The draft law is built on the basis of selectively inheriting the Law on the Capital City and the specific mechanisms that the City is currently implementing.
"According to statistics, about 70% of this draft law is inherited and 30% are new proposals," the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City said, while emphasizing that these are bold proposals aimed at removing obstacles to serve the rapid and sustainable development of the city.
![[Photo] Standing Committee member of the Party Central Committee Tran Cam Tu working with the Central Inspection Committee](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2026/05/28/1779969579668_ndo_br_bnd-2495-jpg.webp)
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