At least 52 districts and more than 1,000 communes will be reorganized and merged in the 2023-2025 period.

On April 8, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra signed a document submitting to the Government a draft Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels for the 2023-2030 period.

The Ministry of Home Affairs sets a goal of completing the arrangement of district and commune-level administrative units by 2025 to simultaneously meet both standards of natural area and population size below 70% of the regulations.

In addition, district-level administrative units with natural area standards below 20% and population size below 200% of regulations; commune-level administrative units with natural area standards below 20% and population size below 300% of regulations are also subject to arrangement and merger in the next 3 years.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra. Photo: Hoang Ha

The Ministry of Home Affairs also set a target of completing the arrangement of district-level and commune-level administrative units by 2030, with the remaining having both standards of natural area and population size below 100% of the regulations; district-level administrative units simultaneously having standards of natural area below 30% and population size below 200% of the regulations; commune-level administrative units simultaneously having standards of natural area below 30% and population size below 300% of the regulations.

Most districts and communes have not yet met the standards.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said that the results of the rearrangement of commune- and district-level administrative units in the 2019-2021 period have reduced 8 districts and 563 communes, but up to now, the majority of district- and commune-level administrative units have not yet met the standards on natural area and population size as prescribed.

Specifically, out of the total of 705 district-level administrative units at present, compared to the prescribed standards on natural area and population size, only 127 units (accounting for 18.01%) have both standards achieved at 100% or more.

There are 382 units (accounting for 54.18%) with 1 standard meeting 100% or more and 1 standard not meeting 100%; 196 units (accounting for 27.80%) have both standards not meeting 100%; 89 units (accounting for 12.62%) have 1 standard not meeting 100% and 1 standard not meeting 50%; 92 units (accounting for 13.05%) have both standards not meeting 80%.

Notably, there are 52 units (accounting for 7.38%) that have not met both standards by 70%, and are subject to arrangement and merger in the period of 2023 - 2025.

At the same time, there are 19 units (accounting for 2.70%) that have both standards not reaching 60%; 453 units (accounting for 64.26%) have both standards reaching 50% or more; 8 units (accounting for 1.13%) have both standards not reaching 50%.

Of the total 10,599 commune-level administrative units, only 2,438 (accounting for 23.00%) have both standards achieved at 100% or more.

There are 5,249 units (accounting for 49.52%) with 1 standard meeting 100% or more and 1 standard not meeting 100%; 2,912 units (accounting for 27.47%) with both standards not meeting 100%; 2,353 units (accounting for 22.20%) with 1 standard not meeting 100% and 1 standard not meeting 50%; 1,629 units (accounting for 15.37%) with both standards not meeting 80%.

Notably, there are 1,037 units (accounting for 9.78%) that have not met both standards by 70% and are subject to arrangement and merger in the period 2023 - 2025.

In addition, there are 506 units (accounting for 4.77%) that have both standards not reaching 60%; 4,272 units (accounting for 40.31%) that have both standards reaching 50% or more; 133 units (accounting for 1.25%) that have both standards not reaching 50%.

Proposal to pass under simplified procedure

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, in practice there are cases where, due to objective conditions, the administrative units after rearrangement do not ensure the standards on natural area and population size.

Therefore, to ensure the feasibility of the regulation and at the same time, limit the situation where localities propose to implement formal arrangements but do not ensure post-arrangement standards, leading to failure to achieve the set goals, the draft resolution strictly stipulates the standards of administrative units after the arrangement.

This takes into account the specific characteristics of areas with very large populations and very small natural areas.

The regulations on standards on natural area and population size have been carefully considered and compared with the standards on natural area and population size of district- and commune-level administrative units subject to rearrangement, ensuring that after the completion of the rearrangement of administrative units in the 2023-2030 period, by 2030, district- and commune-level administrative units nationwide will basically meet the standards on population size and natural area according to regulations.

At that time, there will be no more administrative units with natural area below 30% or both criteria below 100% (except in special cases).

These contents have been reviewed by the Ministry of Justice and accepted for revision by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Ministry of Home Affairs proposed that the Government submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration and decision on drafting and submitting a draft resolution under the simplified procedure at the same time as the process of reviewing and approving the draft resolution in order to promptly resolve urgent issues arising in practice.