Anti-waste starts with streamlining the apparatus
Merging and streamlining the administrative apparatus is not only a reform requirement, but also a strategic solution to realize the spirit of "building a culture of thrift and fighting waste" that General Secretary To Lam highlighted in the article "Fighting waste".
Duc Chuyen• May 15, 2025
Merging and streamlining the administrative apparatus is not only a reform requirement, but also a strategic solution to realize the spirit of "building a culture of thrift and fighting waste" that General Secretary To Lam highlighted in the article "Fighting waste". With hundreds of thousands of billions of VND in budget that can be saved each year, merging and streamlining from the central to local levels is an inevitable step in the era of modernizing national governance.
In the article “Anti-waste", General Secretary To Lam emphasized: "To seize opportunities, push back challenges, strongly increase resources to care for the people, enrich the country in the new revolutionary period, build a better future, the work of preventing and combating waste needs to be deployed drastically, synchronously with effective solutions, creating strong spread, becoming voluntary and self-conscious of each cadre, party member and people, a culture of behavior in the new era". That spirit does not stop at the call but is concretized by drastic directions, especially in reforming the organization and administrative apparatus.
One of the key measures currently is the merger of administrative units to streamline the apparatus, improve operational efficiency, save budget and limit cumbersome and overlapping functions. Statistics from the Ministry of Home Affairs show that in the period 2019-2021, the whole country has rearranged 21 district-level administrative units and 1,056 commune-level administrative units. Thereby, saving about 10,000 billion VND of budget each year.
Not stopping there, the whole country is currently implementing the arrangement of administrative units and building a 2-level local government organization model. Accordingly, after the merger, it is expected that the whole country will reduce from 63 to 34 provinces and cities; reduce more than 260 agencies and units under provincial Party Committees; dissolve 694 districts and more than 4,160 agencies and units under district Party Committees; the number of commune-level administrative units will decrease from 10,035 to about 3,320...
Estimates from a number of research agencies show that when implementing this merger, it is possible to save about VND262,500 billion per year, mainly from cutting staff, reducing regular expenditures, reducing duplicate investment in infrastructure and administrative apparatus.
These are impressive figures, showing that the policy of streamlining the apparatus is not only strategic but also brings about real economic efficiency, contributing to reducing pressure on the national budget in the long term. In particular, it is an action to concretize the spirit of "anti-waste" that General Secretary To Lam has promoted.
Building a culture of savings,anti-wasteIn the new era, it is impossible to stop at slogans. It must be a consistent and consistent requirement in management and operation - institutionalized into specific principles and processes in the activities of each agency, organization and individual, especially the team of cadres, party members, and especially the leaders. This issue was emphasized by General Secretary To Lam in the article "Fighting waste", when he pointed out: "Saving and fighting waste must be clearly demonstrated through commitments and plans, with leadership and specific targets, carried out regularly and thoroughly. Build and practically deploy campaigns and emulation movements on practicing thrift and fighting waste, creating a vibrant and widespread emulation atmosphere throughout the entire Party, people and army".
In particular, the General Secretary warned that: "Waste also reduces people's trust in the Party and the State, creates invisible barriers in socio-economic development, and misses development opportunities for the country." Because if we do not control waste well, from materials, finance to human resources, the public apparatus itself will become a bottleneck for development, not a driving force. Therefore, building a streamlined, transparent, and effective administration not only helps reduce waste, but also contributes to unlocking resources, improving the efficiency of serving the people, improving the investment and business environment, thereby creating a solid foundation for rapid and sustainable development.
Experience from a number of countries shows that restructuring the administrative apparatus, merging similar functional agencies and streamlining the payroll is a common trend to adapt to the requirements of sustainable development. Vietnam is also moving in this direction, with high political determination and a clear reform vision.
Along with the whole country, Nghe An is one of the leading localities in streamlining the administrative apparatus. In the period of 2017-2024, Nghe An reduced 1 district-level administrative unit, from 21 to 20 units; reduced 68 commune-level administrative units, from 480 to 412 units, at the same time, strongly implemented digitalization of the public administration system, strengthened administrative procedure reform and streamlined the payroll.
According to the Nghe An Department of Home Affairs, the merger and streamlining will help the locality save hundreds of billions of dong in budget each year from regular expenditures, salaries, allowances and infrastructure operations. More importantly, the administrative apparatus will be streamlined, reducing intermediary levels, shortening the time to handle administrative procedures and improving people's satisfaction.
Following that success, Nghe An is also completing the review and merger of commune-level administrative units from 412 to 130 (it is expected that about 1,391 district-level officials will be assigned to new communes. The number of redundant district-level and commune-level officials and civil servants after merging communes and abolishing the district level is 3,530 people, expected to be resolved within 5 years).
The lesson learned is: If there is strong direction from the Party Committee and government, along with consensus within the political system, the merger and streamlining will not only be feasible but also create a new development push for the locality.
It can be seen that the merger and streamlining of the administrative apparatus from the central to local levels is not only a technical solution, but also a strategic step demonstrating high political determination in implementing the direction of General Secretary To Lam on preventing and combating waste. This is a concrete action to create an administration that serves effectively, efficiently and is close to the people.
In the context of extensive international integration and digital transformation, building a culture of thrift and anti-waste is not only a requirement for modern national governance, but also a manifestation of a civilized and responsible state. Each cadre, party member, agency and organization must be a proactive link in that system, demonstrating the spirit of "Anti-waste" through specific and practical actions.
We are facing a historic opportunity to bring the country into an era of strong development, realizing the nation's aspirations for power. To seize opportunities and overcome challenges, it is necessary to synchronously deploy strategic solutions to mobilize and effectively use all resources to serve the people and develop the country.
In particular, preventing and combating waste is not only an urgent requirement but must become a pillar in the process of reforming the political system and national governance. It is necessary to resolutely promote the arrangement, streamlining of the apparatus, streamlining the payroll, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of public agencies, associated with building a team of honest, dedicated cadres serving the Fatherland and the people!
