'About 10 provinces and 3 ministries could be reduced if merged'

According to calculations, after the merger, 10 or more provinces with low population size can be reduced; then 3-4 ministries can be reduced.

As the person who proposed the study of merging provinces with few administrative units (districts, communes) and low population size, when speaking at the National Assembly Hall and talking to the press on the morning of October 31, Delegate Pham Van Hoa - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Dong Thap province said that initially there might be disruptions in the organizational apparatus, but after about 1 year it will return to order and operate normally. Another important thing is that the merger will bring about efficiency in streamlining the payroll and reducing regular expenses.

Delegate Pham Van Hoa - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Dong Thap province.

PV:Will it be difficult for people to travel and do procedures if the province is merged, sir?

Delegate Pham Van Hoa:The current infrastructure is also somewhat well invested, and when regular spending is reduced, that source is invested in infrastructure and social security, then after a few years it will be better, and the travel of people or officials to the grassroots will also be easier.

The problem is how responsible the cadres are to their work and to the people, how they will be when merging provinces, whether they will go down to difficult areas, whether they will stick to the areas and be close to the people, that is a problem.

PV:Some people think that the merger of Ha Tay into Hanoi is very good, but there are also opposing opinions?

Delegate Pham Van Hoa:The merger also had difficulties as people said. But until now, I myself have not grasped what the difficulties of Ha Tay are. It is simply a human problem. After the merger, a number of cadres lost their positions, they were also unhappy and dissatisfied.

Without regular monitoring and supervision, it will lead to the formation of local interest groups. But in the past, I had no problem. Hanoi also has a responsibility to Ha Tay, and also allocates a budget for Ha Tay to develop, that is a good issue.

PV:How effective will merging communes be?

Delegate Pham Van Hoa:According to the National Assembly's monitoring report, currently 50% of communes do not meet population standards. I think the policy of merging communes with insufficient population is completely correct.

PV:According to you, which area should the Ministry and the province implement first, or should they be implemented in parallel?

Delegate Pham Van Hoa:I think, first we should merge the provinces, then consider merging the ministries with similar functions and tasks.

Currently, our neighbor country has 100 million people in each province, but they have more than 30 provinces and cities. If they can do it and manage it, we can do it, even though it may be difficult at first.

In addition to reducing the number of ministries and branches for easier management, the current 63 provinces and cities are very large, and inspection work is also difficult and requires a large number of staff. If the number of departments is reduced, the number of staff will decrease and it will be more convenient.

Another advantage is reducing many staff, reducing investment, reducing regular expenditure, using that budget to invest in social security infrastructure.

PV:According to your calculation, how many provinces and ministries can be reduced after the merger?

Delegate Pham Van Hoa:According to my calculation, after the merger, 10 or more provinces with low population size can be reduced; then 3-4 Ministries can be reduced.

PV:What do you think will be the most difficult part of the merger?

Delegate Pham Van Hoa:The most difficult thing is the human problem, human thinking is not very satisfactory. Another difficulty is the area, the terrain is complex, mountainous. Managing such a large area must be difficult.

PV:Difficult about people is the position?

Delegate Pham Van Hoa:In addition to authority, we also have to streamline a large number of people in the apparatus, and we know that touching people is very sensitive and full of thoughts.

I think in the long term, we must have a roadmap and careful calculations, have a detailed and specific plan and widely consult the people, civil servants and public employees to create consensus and support from the people, to implement the staff streamlining project more effectively.

PV:Thank you sir./.

According to VOV