The Provincial People's Council supervises administrative reform work in Thai Hoa town.

On April 19th, the Nghe An Provincial People's Council's monitoring delegation, led by Mr. Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, held a working session with Thai Hoa town regarding administrative reform in the area during the 2020-2022 period.

Scene of the working session. Photo: Provided.

Reducing administrative procedures

Over the past period, the People's Committee of the town has issued many documents directing the implementation of administrative reform. 100% of administrative procedures have been publicly posted at the town's one-stop service center and the People's Committees of communes and wards.

The town has focused on reviewing and simplifying administrative procedures that have been approved or authorized by competent authorities. Over the past three years, the town has reviewed 100% of administrative procedures, with 79 procedures seeing a reduction in processing time, achieving a 27.72% reduction. At the commune/ward level, 50 out of 122 administrative procedures have been reviewed and their processing time reduced, reaching a 40.9% reduction.

Comrade Pham Tuan Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of the Thai Hoa Town Party Committee, speaks and discusses the leadership and guidance of the Party Committee on administrative reform. Photo: Provided.

The quality of administrative procedure resolution has gradually improved. The level of satisfaction of citizens and businesses with the resolution of administrative procedures has reached 95%. Of this, the satisfaction level regarding the resolution of administrative procedures in the fields of land, construction, and investment has reached 85%.

The town is accelerating the deployment of online public services at levels 3 and 4. To date, the town's public service system has provided: 287 public services, including 124 level 2 services; 33 level 3 online public services (157 partially completed administrative procedures); and 130 level 4 online public services. Thai Hoa town has also implemented the "Thai Hoa Smart" application for interactive feedback between citizens and the Party Committee and government.

Comrade Nguyen Duc Thanh - Vice Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee, discussed the application of information technology in administrative reform.

During the working session, the members of the supervisory delegation discussed and requested the Thai Hoa Town People's Committee to further clarify the following issues: the development of administrative reform content according to annual plans and themes; the handling of public assets after mergers; difficulties and obstacles in implementing job rotation according to Decree 59 of 2019; and coordination in resolving interconnected administrative procedures.

Assessment of the scoring system for ranking administrative procedures in districts, cities, and towns; and the application of software in administrative reform.

Delegates expressed concern about the fact that Thai Hoa town's administrative reform ranking has remained stable at 9th out of 21 for the past three years, and that the town needs to make a breakthrough to reach the leading positions.

The inspection team checks the posting of administrative procedures at Quang Tien ward, Thai Hoa town. Photo: Provided.

Clarifying the reasons for delays in processing administrative procedures; managing the town's budget; implementing autonomy for public service units; difficulties after mergers and streamlining of the organizational structure, etc.

Towards smart cities

Working with the Supervisory Delegation, Thai Hoa town reflected on the difficulties and shortcomings in resolving administrative procedures, including interconnected administrative procedures; the need for early integration of online public service software; and the need for sanctions to regulate all sectors, levels, and citizens in the implementation of online public services.

Comrade Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, concluded the working session. Photo: Provided.

At the same time, the town requested the supervisory delegation to consider increasing the budget and allocating funds, where possible, to implement administrative reform tasks.

We request that higher authorities pay attention to the timely and complete development of electronic flowcharts on the Nghe An province's public service system. Departments and agencies should regularly update electronic procedures for handling administrative procedures on the public service portal in a timely manner, avoiding situations where a list of administrative procedures has been announced but the issuance, amendment, or supplementation of procedures for handling those procedures has not been carried out promptly.

Leaders of Thai Hoa town attended the working session. Photo: Provided.

Concluding the meeting, Comrade Nguyen Nhu Khoi – Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council – highly appreciated the decisive leadership of the town's Party committee and government.

Analyzing the potential for improving the ranking of Thai Hoa town in the administrative reform index, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council stated that administrative reform must begin with people. Therefore, the town needs to focus on enhancing the capacity, qualifications, responsibility, and professional ethics of its officials and civil servants, especially the leaders; and review and reorganize job positions and roles.

Handling administrative procedures for citizens at the One-Stop Service Center of Thai Hoa Town. Photo: Provided.

At the same time, the town needs to focus on modernizing equipment to serve socio-economic development in general and administrative reform in particular; concentrate on digital transformation, etc.

"Party committees, government agencies, political organizations, and the political system at all levels of the locality need to be determined and make efforts to realize the aspiration of building Thai Hoa into a smart city, the central city of the Northwest region of Nghe An province," Comrade Nguyen Nhu Khoi emphasized.