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

"Recently, the Politburo signed Resolution 37 on the reorganization of district and commune-level administrative units. Could the Ministry clarify how many districts, communes, and wards will be merged? What is the implementation process like? Will the provinces implement it immediately or wait for guidance documents from the Ministry?", a reporter asked at the Ministry of Interior's press conference this evening.

Director of the Department of Local Government Phan Van Hung

According to Phan Van Hung, Director of the Department of Local Government, the Ministry of Interior had drafted the proposal and sought broad public opinion before the Government submitted it to the Politburo for the issuance of Resolution 37. The content of the Resolution remains essentially the same as the submission document.

Regarding the implementation roadmap, Mr. Hung said that the Resolution sets out specific goals, including amending and promulgating new legal regulations in 2019, which include regulations related to the reorganization of district and commune-level administrative units.

This year, regulations will be reviewed, supplemented, or new regulations will be issued to ensure consistent and synchronized implementation. Initially, these regulations will be applied to district and commune-level administrative units that did not meet 50% of the criteria for area and population in 2019-2021, after which a summary will be conducted.

The implementation will be formalized by a resolution issued by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly to institutionalize the Party's Resolution. Following this, the Government will issue a specific implementation plan. In that spirit, the Ministry of Interior...A draft of the implementation guidelines will be prepared.

"Eight days after the Politburo issued the Resolution, the Ministry sent a document to ministries, localities, and the Government Information Portal to solicit opinions on the draft Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the rearrangement of district and commune-level administrative units in the period 2019-2021," said the Director of the Department of Local Government.

Mr. Hung stated that the Politburo's resolution did not specify a number, but according to the government's proposal, statistics from localities show that 16 district-level administrative units and 631 commune-level administrative units that do not meet the two criteria of area and population will be merged.

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