Approving the proposal to reorganize provinces and communes
On the afternoon of April 21, the Standing Committee of the Binh Dinh Provincial Party Committee held a meeting of the Provincial Party Committee ( extraordinary session) to discuss and approve the proposal related to the arrangement of administrative units.
The conference approved the proposal on the Project to merge Gia Lai and Binh Dinh provinces; Project to reorganize commune-level administrative units of Binh Dinh province in 2025.
At the conference, Chairman of Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee Pham Anh Tuan presented a proposal on the arrangement of commune-level administrative units. According to the project, after the arrangement, Binh Dinh province will have 58 commune-level administrative units, including 41 communes and 17 wards, a decrease of 97 units compared to the present.
For the project to merge the province, a new Gia Lai province will be established on the basis of merging the entire administrative boundaries and population of the two provinces of Binh Dinh and Gia Lai. The new province will have a natural area of over 21,576km2, a population of over 3.153 million people and 135 commune-level administrative units (including 110 communes and 25 wards). The new provincial political and administrative center is located in Quy Nhon city, Binh Dinh province.
Naming a new commune is a responsibility to history
Regarding the naming of the new commune level, Mr. Le Kim Toan - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Binh Dinh Provincial Party Committee - said that the Central Government has had an orientation and the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee assigned localities the authority to proactively propose.
Currently, in Binh Dinh, there are 3 named trends, including: Taking the old district level to name the order of numbers; the old administrative unit name combined with the East, West, South, North directions and the old commune name for the new commune.
However, during the process of public disclosure, there were some opinions suggesting that the provincial leaders study preserving the names of some titles and places to be included in history and poems.
Mr. Le Kim Toan cited that An Nhon town named the two new wards as Binh Dinh and An Nhon, receiving many compliments.
"The name will be associated with the land, tradition, culture, and people. In addition to arranging administrative boundaries, the name is very important, so it should be very carefully considered. It will be difficult to have the opportunity to revise if there is a decision," said Mr. Le Kim Toan.
At the conference, Binh Dinh Provincial Party Secretary Ho Quoc Dung suggested that local Secretaries carefully consider naming the new name, because this is a responsibility to history.
"A thousand years later, the names are still associated with the localities. Therefore, the Secretaries sitting here are responsible for history, I hope you will find the best solution, so that the people can agree and support.
As for naming, I suggest that comrades take time to think and consult experts and former leaders, what is the best way to do it, so that in the future, children and grandchildren will not blame their ancestors - why did they name them like that in the past? Now it is considered normal, but a few decades later, history will leave behind, and our children and grandchildren will have opinions, so we must be very careful in naming them," said Mr. Ho Quoc Dung.
Provincial Party Secretary worries about... naming
According to Mr. Ho Quoc Dung, Standing member of the Provincial Party Committee, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee does not impose the naming and delegation of authority to localities for decision.
"I received many messages with mixed proposals on naming at the commune level. These past few days, I have been very worried, unable to sleep, I have to look at how all provinces are named, to think, to be true to the reality and aspirations of the majority of people", Mr. Ho Quoc Dung confided.
The Secretary of the Binh Dinh Provincial Party Committee said that if necessary, it is necessary to study the naming associated with history, land, culture and importantly, it must be supported by the majority of people.
Mr. Ho Quoc Dung also expressed his concern about the difficulty of people and officials traveling, when the new communes have too large and too far areas but the administrative center is at the forefront.
Mr. Ho Quoc Dung for example, Phu Cat 4 commune (new) merged from 3 communes of Cat Thanh, Cat Hai, Cat Tien and planned to have a center in Cat Tien. But from Cat Thanh to Cat Tien, you have to go through 3 passes, which is very difficult for officers to travel to work.
"If it is unreasonable, adjust it, to make it most convenient for people and the travel of staff, so that they can complete the work well," Mr. Ho Quoc Dung requested.
As expected, on the afternoon of April 26 (Saturday), at the headquarters of Binh Dinh Provincial Party Committee (Quy Nhon City), the Standing Committee of Binh Dinh and Gia Lai Provincial Party Committee will meet the merger, for the policy and unify the data to approve the provincial People's Council to issue a resolution and submit it to the Central Government.
