Merging districts and communes needs to be streamlined but must harmonize interests

In response to the country's development requirements, the arrangement of administrative units at the district and commune levels is a necessary requirement to streamline the administrative apparatus. However, it is also necessary to understand that the effectiveness of this is not simply a measure of how many administrative units can be cut, how many staff can be streamlined, but the most important thing is the actual effectiveness of the government apparatus, the quality of public services that people and businesses enjoy.

Merging districts and communes: Not just mechanical numbers…

In phase 1, after 3 years of implementing Resolution No. 37-NQ/TW of the Politburo and Resolution No. 653/2019/UBTVQH14 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the arrangement of district and commune-level administrative units in the period of 2019 - 2021, the Politburo assessed that this task closely followed the set goals, requirements and tasks.

In 3 years of implementation, the reduction of 8 district-level administrative units and 561 commune-level administrative units is a great effort of the localities. This demonstrates the great determination of the leaders and the consensus of the people when implementing the requirements of the Central Resolution and the Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the arrangement of district-level and commune-level administrative units.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Ngo Thanh Can - former Deputy Head of the Department of Organization and Personnel Management, National Academy of Public Administration, our country has previously carried out administrative unit arrangements but mainly in the direction of division and separation, but this is the first time administrative units have been arranged in the direction of merger.

The results that our country has achieved in the past 3 years (2019 - 2021) have contributed to streamlining the apparatus, reducing staff, restructuring the apparatus and improving the quality of the staff and civil servants. In particular, thanks to the restructuring of administrative units, our country has reduced state budget expenditures by up to 2,000 billion VND.

Providing information and comments on the results of the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels in the period of 2019 - 2021, Mr. Nguyen Anh Duong - Deputy Director of the Department of Local Government, Ministry of Home Affairs affirmed: The arrangement of administrative units contributes to restructuring the staff and civil servants according to job positions, contributing to screening the staff, improving the quality and public service responsibilities of staff, civil servants and public employees at the administrative units implementing the arrangement. In particular, the arrangement of administrative units has also contributed to expanding the development space, concentrating resources, promoting the potential and advantages of localities for sustainable development.

“After implementing the administrative unit arrangement, the agencies and organizations in the political system in the localities (district and commune levels) implementing the arrangement were all consolidated and ensured to fully and effectively perform their assigned functions and tasks, national defense and security were maintained, social order and safety were ensured, people's lives and production and business activities of enterprises in the administrative units implementing the arrangement were not much affected,” Mr. Duong further emphasized the results of the administrative unit arrangement in the recent period.

However, in addition to the achieved results, Mr. Duong said that we must also frankly look back at the difficulties and shortcomings that need to be overcome. First of all, due to the short time to start the arrangement with a large number of administrative units, from the issuance of regulations by central agencies to the development of projects by localities, we have not fully anticipated the difficulties and shortcomings in the implementation process.

“The work of arranging, organizing and resolving policies and regimes for redundant cadres and civil servants has not been done well; urban quality has not been guaranteed due to the merger of rural administrative units into urban administrative units; the arrangement and handling of redundant offices after the arrangement of administrative units is still inadequate; the implementation of specific policies for new administrative units after the arrangement is not timely,” Mr. Duong frankly said.

From the recognized shortcomings and inadequacies, according to Mr. Duong, in the recent period, the Government, the Prime Minister, and the Ministry of Finance have issued many documents directing and guiding localities in converting the functions of use, liquidating, and auctioning public headquarters and assets. Many localities have also actively implemented solutions to reuse to avoid waste or auction to increase budget revenue.

According to Mr. Duong, Resolution No. 117 dated July 30, 2023 of the Government promulgating the Plan to implement the arrangement of district and commune-level administrative units for the period 2023 - 2025 also sets out tasks, solutions and assigns responsibilities to ministries, branches and localities to study and thoroughly handle the issue of surplus public assets that have not been handled when arranging administrative units in the period 2019 - 2021.

Roadmap for implementing the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels for the period 2023 - 2025

According to Resolution 117 dated July 30, 2023 on the Plan for implementing the arrangement of district and commune-level administrative units for the period 2023 - 2025, recently issued by the Government, the goal set for 2024 is that localities will complete the arrangement of district and commune-level administrative units, arrange and consolidate the organizational apparatus, and arrange staff, civil servants, public employees, and workers at agencies, organizations, and units in district and commune-level administrative units to implement the arrangement for the period 2023 - 2025.

According to reports from 63 localities, in the 2023-2025 period, 33 districts and more than 1,300 communes that are "mandatory to be reorganized" will be merged, not counting the number of administrative units that are encouraged to be reorganized due to local needs.

Mr. Duong said that compared to the previous period, this period will have more advantages when there are lessons learned in the process of implementing the arrangement of district and commune-level administrative units in the period of 2019-2021 to perfect the regulations for better organization and arrangement in the upcoming periods. In addition, many positive results of the process of arranging administrative units in the period of 2019-2021 have also contributed to creating momentum for the arrangement of administrative units in the coming time. And importantly, the time for localities to develop and complete project documents is also longer, ensuring thorough and reasonable research in the arrangement of administrative units.

However, in the period of 2023 - 2025, due to the larger scale of district and commune-level administrative units that must be reorganized than in the previous period, there will be many difficulties in carrying out the arrangement and implementing post-arrangement tasks and solutions. In some places, the difficulties and inadequacies of the arrangement in the period of 2019 - 2021 have not been completely resolved, which will also significantly affect the arrangement of district and commune-level administrative units in the period of 2023 - 2025. For the merger of rural administrative units into urban administrative units, ensuring the conditions and standards according to regulations also creates many challenges for localities when arranging urban administrative units.

Administrative unit arrangement must ensure people's consensus.

Recently, at the National Online Conference on the implementation of administrative unit arrangement at district and commune levels in the 2023-2030 period, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized: The arrangement of administrative units is difficult, sensitive, complicated, and involves many people and many sectors; affecting people, businesses and other entities. The Prime Minister also directed: The arrangement of administrative units must ensure the harmony of legitimate interests of the entities.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Duong said that the arrangement and merger of administrative units is only the first step. The important thing is that after the arrangement, the newly formed administrative units must soon stabilize and develop. The National Assembly Standing Committee and the Government have also requested that when localities develop the Project, they must identify immediate and long-term tasks and solutions for the newly formed administrative units after the arrangement. This is also an opportunity for localities to improve the organizational apparatus, improve the quality of public services and civil servants, modernize the administration, and promote digital transformation to better serve the people.

As the locality with the second largest number of commune-level administrative units to be rearranged and merged in the country, Ha Tinh entered the game with high determination, listening to opinions from the people and building a merger plan with effectiveness and efficiency as the core.

In the period of 2019 - 2021, the number of commune-level administrative units in Ha Tinh implemented a large arrangement: 80/262 units, accounting for 30.5%, reducing 46 communes, forming 34 new communes. Some districts reduced many commune-level administrative units such as Duc Tho district reduced 12 communes, Thach Ha district reduced 9 communes, Huong Son district reduced 7 communes, Can Loc district reduced 5 communes, Cam Xuyen district reduced 4 communes. In the period of 2023 - 2030, after review, Ha Tinh has 3 district-level administrative units and 89 commune-level administrative units that do not meet the criteria to be studied for arrangement.

Mr. Bui Quang Duong - Deputy Director of the Department of Home Affairs of Ha Tinh province said: This is a large amount of work, but if we can create consensus among the people through communication and mobilization activities, we will overcome difficulties and challenges.

“In the 2019-2021 period, almost the entire political system of Ha Tinh went down to the communes to accompany the local government committees in implementing the arrangement, so the people's approval rate reached over 96%. In addition, special attention was paid to the arrangement, assignment, and selection of the right competent cadres for the leading positions of the commune-level government committees and mass organizations, while at the same time having appropriate policies for the redundant cadres…”, Mr. Bui Quang Duong said that these lessons from the previous period will be inherited and promoted in the implementation of the tasks of the 2023-2030 period.

Pay attention to solving the problem of redundant civil servants and public assets...

In the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels, the biggest problem is still to solve the policies and regimes with the surplus staff; and to effectively use the facilities after the arrangement. Many opinions say that if these issues are well resolved, it will create motivation for the arrangement in the coming period.

Associate Professor, Dr. Ngo Thanh Can - former Deputy Head of the Department of Organization and Personnel Management, National Academy of Public Administration said: The arrangement of administrative units in the period of 2023 - 2030 must be carefully prepared, comprehensive, thorough and carefully calculated. Especially, when it comes to personnel work, people must be persistent, careful, both persuasive and motivating along with reasonable and satisfactory policies.

According to information from Mr. Nguyen Anh Duong, Deputy Director of the Department of Local Government, Ministry of Home Affairs: Based on lessons learned from the 2019-2021 period, recently issued legal documents have proposed many solutions to better handle redundant headquarters and officials and civil servants. Specifically, a 3-year period is set for the rearrangement and handling of headquarters and public assets; a 5-year period is set for handling redundant officials and civil servants. In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs has also submitted to the Government for promulgation Decree No. 29/2023/ND-CP dated June 3, 2023 on the policy of streamlining payroll, which has added regulations that redundant officials and civil servants due to the rearrangement of administrative units, in addition to enjoying the policies of streamlining payroll, will also enjoy the policies due to the rearrangement of administrative units. The earlier the retirement period is compared to the 5-year period, the more benefits are enjoyed.

“With the solutions issued recently, I personally think it will facilitate localities in handling headquarters, assets, and redundant officials and civil servants due to administrative unit rearrangement,” Mr. Duong expressed his opinion and emphasized that for the rearrangement of administrative units at the district and commune levels to be successful, the most important thing is the determination and participation of the heads of local Party committees and authorities, especially at the provincial level. When the heads are determined, the entire political system responds and the people agree and support, all difficulties will be resolved and the policy of rearranging administrative units at the district and commune levels will soon be successful.