On the afternoon of December 24, the National Assembly Standing Committee reviewed and approved the Resolution on administrative unit standards.
According to the Law on Organization of Local Government, administrative units are organized into 2 levels with 5 types (province, city, commune, ward, special zone).
After the arrangement of administrative units, the whole country has 34 provincial-level administrative units (6 cities and 28 provinces); 3,321 commune-level administrative units (2,621 communes, 687 wards and 13 special zones).
Presenting the Government's proposal, Minister of Home Affairs Do Thanh Binh said that after the arrangement, the number and scale of provincial and commune-level units "had great fluctuations", leading to the standards of administrative units stipulated in Resolution 1211/2016 on standards for administrative units and the classification of administrative units "no longer being suitable". Therefore, it needs to be adjusted to suit the new context.
The draft resolution on administrative unit standards is divided into 3 chapters and 12 articles.
For rural administrative units (provinces and communes), the standards on population size and natural area remain the same as current regulations, but add new standards on socio-economic development orientation, towards modern, civilized and sustainable rural areas.
For the city, the draft resolution stipulates the direction of adjusting the standard of population size from 1 million to 2.5 million people or more and the natural area from 1,500km2 to 2,500km2.
The draft resolution supplements standards on the location, function of urban areas and level of infrastructure development and urban space organization to meet the standards of a type I urban area.
At the same time, supplement the standard on urbanization rate of 45% or more and the ratio of wards to the total number of commune-level administrative units of 30% or more.
Standards for wards expected to adjust the population size to 2-3 times higher than before the arrangement...
Regarding the preparation, appraisal and examination of projects to establish, merge, divide, adjust boundaries and rename administrative units, the Minister of Home Affairs said that the draft specifically stipulates the authority and deadline for appraisal of project documents.
The draft also clearly stipulates the responsibility of the drafting agency in ensuring the accuracy of information and data in the draft and the reception, explanation and completion of the draft documents after appraisal.
Expressing the viewpoint of the reviewing agency, Chairman of the Law and Justice Committee Hoang Thanh Tung proposed to review and unify the standards on the structure and level of socio-economic development of the ward with relevant content in the draft resolution on urban classification.
At the same time, it is recommended to consider the reasonableness of some standards because they are not suitable for reality and are difficult to ensure feasibility.
Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh said that the issuance of this resolution is very necessary to meet the requirements of management, planning completion, and socio-economic development, not to continue to arrange, separate, and merge administrative units.
The country currently has 34 provinces and cities with 3,321 communes, wards and special zones. According to the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, the number of these administrative units will not change in the coming years.
"The Party and the State have not yet had a policy to arrange, merge, and separate further administrative units in the coming years. It needs to be clearly affirmed" - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh emphasized.
At the end of the meeting, with 100% of the members of the National Assembly Standing Committee present, the resolution on administrative unit standards was unanimously approved.
