By 2021, 16 districts and 631 wards and communes will be merged.

"Recently, the Politburo signed and issued Resolution 37 on the arrangement of district and commune-level administrative units. Can the Ministry clarify how many districts, wards, and communes will be merged? How will the implementation process be? Will the provinces implement it immediately or wait for the Ministry's guidance document?", a reporter asked at the Ministry of Home Affairs' press conference this evening.

Director of the Department of Local Government Phan Van Hung

Head of the Department of Local Government Phan Van Hung replied that the Ministry of Home Affairs had drafted the project and solicited public opinion before the Government submitted Resolution 37 to the Politburo. The content of the Resolution was basically the same as the submission.

Regarding the implementation roadmap, Mr. Hung said that the Resolution sets out a specific goal: in 2019, amend and promulgate new legal regulations, including regulations related to the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels.

This year, new regulations will be reviewed, supplemented or issued to ensure unified and synchronous implementation. Initially, it will be applied to district and commune-level administrative units that do not meet 50% of the criteria on area and population in 2019 - 2021, then summarized.

The implementation will be organized by the National Assembly Standing Committee to institutionalize the Party Resolution. The Government will then issue a specific implementation plan. In that spirit, the Ministry of Home Affairswill draft implementation guidelines.

"After 8 days of the Politburo issuing the Resolution, the Ministry sent a document to ministries, branches, localities and the Government Portal to ask for opinions on the draft Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the arrangement of district- and commune-level administrative units for the 2019-2021 period," said the Director of the Department of Local Government.

Mr. Hung said that the Resolution of the Politburo did not state specific numbers, but according to the Government Project, statistics from localities with 16 district-level administrative units and 631 commune-level administrative units that do not meet the two standards of area and population will be merged.

In addition, the Resolution also encourages localities to make additional arrangements depending on the actual situation.