The Summary Report on the Implementation of the Law on Organization of Local Government, recently sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Ministry of Justice, stated that as of June 30, the country had 63 provincial-level administrative units (58 provinces and 5 centrally run cities); 705 district-level administrative units (523 districts, 46 districts, 51 towns, 84 provincial cities and one centrally run city); 10,595 commune-level administrative units (8,192 communes, 1,784 wards, 619 towns).
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, provinces and cities have implemented projects on establishment, dissolution, merger, division, and adjustment of administrative boundaries.
The arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels ensures the principles in Article 128 of the Law on Organization of Local Government, Article 2 of Resolution 35/2023 of the National Assembly Standing Committee, etc., creating high trust and consensus among the people.
However, the process of preparing documents to report to competent authorities must comply with the provisions of the Law on Organization of Local Government, related documents and must go through many levels. That leads to lengthy procedures and processes, affecting the operations of localities and units related to administrative boundaries, causing interruptions or problems.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the implementation is still facing difficulties because there are no specific regulations in case of adjusting part of the administrative boundary from one district to another, it is necessary to consult voters at all commune-level administrative units in the two districts or only need to consult voters at the communes merged or separated from the district.
From that reality, the Ministry of Home Affairs proposed to study, amend and supplement regulations on decentralization of settlement when difficulties and complications arise between localities in the process of implementing and managing administrative boundary lines at provincial, district and commune levels.
Research and amend regulations on collecting voters' opinions in administrative unit arrangement, diversifying forms of collecting voters' opinions in accordance with current digital transformation.
Review and supplement the provisions of the law to promote the continued implementation of the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels from now until 2030 and research to pilot the arrangement of administrative units at provincial level.
In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs believes that it is necessary to amend and supplement regulations related to the organization of local governments in cases of changes in administrative boundaries and other special cases to ensure consistency and unity with the content of arrangement, establishment, merger, division, and adjustment of administrative boundaries.
