There will be a plan to merge administrative units for each locality.

On the morning of April 23, before the 7th session of the 14th National Assembly, National Assembly deputies of Nghe An province from constituency No. 5 met with voters of 4 communes of Dien Phu, Dien Tho, Dien Loc and Dien Loi (Dien Chau district) at the office of Dien Loc commune.

Attending the conference were National Assembly delegates: Major General Nguyen Doan Anh - Commander of Military Region 4 and Nguyen Thanh Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province. Photo: Thu Giang

Taking into account the specifics when merging administrative units

At the meeting, voters heard Major General Nguyen Doan Anh - Commander of Military Region 4, on behalf of the National Assembly delegation, inform about the content of the program of the 7th session of the 14th National Assembly, scheduled to open on May 20.

Many voters representing 4 communes of Dien Chau district noted that the wishes and recommendations that voters proposed and made during meetings and discussions with National Assembly deputies were responded to promptly and had specific results.

In addition, voter Dau Ngoc An - Director of Dien Loc Commune Agricultural Cooperative expressed his hope that all levels would pay more attention to the collective economy, provide land, and issue red books to cooperatives with headquarters to facilitate borrowing capital to develop production and business.

Voter Hoang Van Duong (Dien Loi commune) was concerned about the issue of ensuring the safety of the power grid corridor, as there are still 15 households living right under the high-voltage power line in the locality. Mr. Duong also raised the issue of how to ensure streamlining in the process of merging hamlets and communes in the coming time according to the general policy, while ensuring streamlining and solving reasonable policies for the streamlined subjects, considering the specific characteristics of each locality.

Mr. Le Manh Hien - Vice Chairman of Dien Chau District People's Committee, on behalf of the district leaders, responded to the petition of voter Dau Ngoc An, saying that Dien Chau district currently has 69 cooperatives, of which, according to assessment, 1/3 of them are operating ineffectively, 1/3 are facing difficulties and 1/3 are operating well.

The representative of Dien Chau District People's Committee stated that, in essence, a cooperative is an economic organization, and if it wants to build an office, it must rent land or auction land use rights. The State has had incentive policies for this group in accordance with the 2012 Law on Cooperatives.

In the case of 15 households currently living under high-voltage power lines, the district will coordinate with the electricity industry to re-examine and have a relocation plan to ensure the power grid corridor.

Regarding the issue of merging commune-level administrative units, Mr. Hien informed voters that communes with two criteria of population size and natural area under 50% will be merged in 2019. Accordingly, in Dien Chau, the communes of Dien Binh, Dien Minh and Dien Thang will be merged.

“The merger must be in accordance with the principles and regulations of the Central Government, combined with streamlining the apparatus at the commune and district levels towards effective and efficient operations, while calculating and resolving the regime in accordance with regulations. The merger of communes and hamlets must be consistent with the goals of regional development planning, socio-economic development, and take into account the specific factors of each locality,” affirmed the Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Dien Chau district.

The conference received 14 comments from voters, along with 4 written comments on 27 groups of issues. Photo: Thu Giang

There will be effective merger plans for localities.

On behalf of the delegation of constituency No. 5, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation Nguyen Thanh Hien received 14 oral opinions and 4 written opinions on 27 groups of issues raised by voters of Dien Chau district to the National Assembly Deputies.

Regarding the implementation of merging districts, communes and hamlets, Mr. Hien affirmed that this is a "very correct" policy, explaining that after the process of separating districts and communes, although positive aspects were recorded in the past, the consequences were that the apparatus was too cumbersome, the staff was too large, and it was difficult to manage effectively.

The Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province informed voters that through nationwide review, 613/7,000 district-level units do not meet standards in terms of area and population, and 6,500/11,000 communes do not meet standards and need to be merged.

Dien Chau will merge the communes of Dien Binh, Dien Minh and Dien Thang. Photo: Google Maps

When proposing this policy, the Party and State developed an implementation plan, discussed and had a roadmap, sought public opinions, and amended the Law on Government Organization and the Law on Local Government Organization accordingly.

However, in practice, many localities are concerned about the implementation roadmap, especially how to resolve the regime for streamlined commune-level officials. Delegate Hien added that the Provincial Party Standing Committee has discussed thoroughly, and from now until 2020, there will be effective plans for localities, and at the same time, he believes that Dien Chau will well implement the merger policy on the basis of consensus and support from the people.