Operating two-level local government, a historical milestone for a new period

Politburo member and Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh shares about the readiness to operate a two-level local government. Photo: Pham Dong

From July 1, two-tier local government will be in operation nationwide. The historic transition is approaching, and localities are ready to operate the new model, with great efforts and expectations.

Reporters of Lao Dong Newspaper had an interview with Politburo member and Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh to clarify the vision, goals and solutions of the Government when implementing these important decisions.

PV: July 1 marks an important milestone in the operation of the two-level local government model nationwide, including provincial and communal levels. Could the Permanent Deputy Prime Minister please tell us the core goal of this historic decision?

Deputy Prime Minister: The two-level local government model is an important policy of the Party, implemented by the Government and approved by the National Assembly.

Over the years, our apparatus has been working well and effectively, but now it has revealed its shortcomings in the face of new requirements.

Firstly , the organizational structure is not really scientific and cumbersome.

Second , there is still an intermediate level.

Third , the current number of employees is still large, so improving the salary regime is difficult.

Therefore, the Central Committee and the Politburo decided to carry out a revolution in the organizational apparatus. Accordingly, local governments are organized according to a two-level model, eliminating the district level, leaving only the provincial and communal levels with a new scale.

Currently, the number of provinces has decreased from 63 to 34; the number of communes has decreased from more than 10,300 to 3,321.

The reorganization of local government is aimed at specific goals.

Firstly , it helps to organize the local government apparatus more scientifically and compactly, eliminating intermediate levels, making the government closer to the people and better controlling the situation in a wider area.

Second , this is also an opportunity to rearrange the staff, streamline positions that have not yet effectively promoted their capacity; at the same time, resolve the situation for comrades who are old, have health problems or have circumstances and wish to retire.

This will help the apparatus become more streamlined, while creating conditions to attract young resources, supplementing a team of quality, well-trained, highly qualified staff.

Third , the merger also creates a large enough economic space to connect regions, promote the strengths of each region, and prepare for a period of strong development.

The merger creates superior economic spaces, comparable to other countries in the region. For example, Ho Chi Minh City merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau will form an industrial and tourist center, along with the upcoming free trade zone, creating a strong and potential economic zone.

PV: Could you please share with us the work to prepare for the arrangement of provincial administrative units and the implementation of a two-level local government model?

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister : Recently, the Politburo has established 19 working delegations led by Politburo members and members of the Secretariat, who directly went to localities to direct the preparation work according to the plan.

The focus of the working groups is to direct the preparation for the merger of administrative units. The preparation includes reviewing the administrative boundaries at the provincial and communal levels; determining the new administrative center; arranging personnel and preparing documents for the upcoming congress.

Every week, the Politburo listens to reports on the progress of preparations and has decided to choose June 30 to simultaneously announce nationwide the decisions passed by the National Assembly at the 9th Session. These decisions include the rearrangement of provincial and communal administrative units and the consolidation of key personnel.

Accordingly, Party and State leaders have been assigned to each locality to directly direct and organize this important national event.

Localities have been proactive and highly responsible in implementation, from Party committees to authorities. Public opinion gathering was widely organized, the results showed that two localities achieved 100% consensus, the remaining localities all achieved over 90%, of which the majority achieved 98-99%. This shows the great consensus and support of the people for this policy.

Preparations for the launch of the new government apparatus have basically been completed, receiving consensus and creating an exciting atmosphere among the people.

Many localities and businesses have proposed organizing fireworks displays, considering this a historical milestone opening a new stage of development. The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha also agreed to ring the bell on July 1, the official day of the new government apparatus.

It can be affirmed that the whole country is very excited about this important event. Many international leaders, when meeting, highly appreciated this as a strong, bold and wise decision of the Party and State of Vietnam. Some foreign leaders even commented that this decision demonstrated the mettle of the Vietnamese leadership.

Reporter: To arrange provincial administrative units and operate a two-level local government model, what specific solutions has the Government had to ensure all activities operate smoothly, sir?

Deputy Prime Minister : The Government has reviewed the entire legal system. To date, 28 Decrees on decentralization and delegation of power with more than 1,000 specific contents have been issued.

Accordingly, of the more than 600 tasks currently performed by the district level, over 90 tasks have been transferred to the province, while the remaining more than 500 tasks have been assigned to the commune level.

The Government also requested localities to review key projects, especially connecting infrastructure projects. For example, the National Assembly approved the Pleiku - Quy Nhon expressway project, contributing to narrowing the gap between Binh Dinh and Gia Lai, promoting the development of the Central Highlands.

Similarly, many other routes will continue to be started in the coming time. It is expected that on August 19, the Government will direct the simultaneous start of 80 projects.

The merger of provinces aims to form a new economic space, but without connecting infrastructure, the goal will be difficult to achieve. Therefore, investment in connecting infrastructure plays a key role.

In terms of economy, connections have been formed from national scale, regional to intra-provincial. With synchronous preparation of infrastructure, major policies, human resources, administration and decentralization, it is forecasted that in the coming time, the economy will have more development momentum, and the quality of service to the people will be improved.

For example, with the two-tier government model, each commune must have a public administrative center for people to carry out administrative procedures. Most public administrative services have been digitized and deployed on digital platforms.

Recently, the Government assigned VNPT and Viettel to develop virtual assistants to provide public services on digital platforms. The results of the trial in Ho Chi Minh City over the past 3 months showed positive results. Initially, there were about 10,000 visits per day, and it is expected to continue to increase strongly in the coming time.

Currently, the virtual assistant can answer about 1,800 questions related to public services. Fully online public services have not reached this number but will be gradually expanded in the future.

In the near future, virtual assistants will support answering and guiding procedures such as marriage registration, birth registration, death registration, vehicle registration, construction permit application... Many services will allow people to sit at home to perform, saving time and effort.

In addition to serving people better, digital transformation also aims to make government operations public and transparent, creating conditions for people to monitor and limit harassment and negativity.

We would like to sincerely thank the sharing of Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh!

Laodong.vn

Source: https://laodong.vn/thoi-su/van-hanh-chinh-quyen-dia-phuong-2-cap-dau-moc-lich-su-cho-giai-doan-moi-1532004.ldo