After conducting a review of the actual situation, many provinces and cities proposed that the Central Government allow the continued merger of some communes and wards that do not meet the criteria.
1 year of operating the 2-level local government (CQĐP) in Hai Phong shows the necessity to continue merging commune-level administrative units (ĐVHC) to expand development space.
In the preliminary report on 1 year of operation of the overall organizational model of the political system, the 2-level CQĐP model, the Standing Committee of Hai Phong City Party Committee proposed that the Central Government, the Politburo, and the Secretariat direct "to study the arrangement of commune-level administrative units in a broader direction, not only for commune-level administrative units that do not meet the criteria for natural area and population size, to expand space, increase regional linkage capacity, and the ability to concentrate resources for local development".
Similarly, this proposal was also raised by leaders of Hai Chau ward (Da Nang) at the preliminary conference on 1 year of operating the overall organizational model of the political system and the 3-level government model held on July 1.
This locality proposed that the Central Government study and orient the arrangement and adjustment of the boundaries of some small-scale communes and wards to expand the space, create more room for development, facilitate infrastructure planning, strengthen regional connections, and improve the quality of public service provision.
Also at this preliminary conference, from local practice, Secretary of the Dong Nai City Party Committee Vu Hong Van pointed out that there are large differences between communes and wards in population size, urbanization level, workload and development potential.
However, the organizational structure, staffing and resource allocation mechanism are still basically applied according to the same model. This leads to imbalance in resource use between localities, affecting the efficiency of serving people and businesses.
The first task set by the Secretary of Dong Nai is to regularly conduct reviews and assessments to study and propose adjustments and arrangements of commune-level UAs according to management scale, development characteristics and practical conditions of each locality.
In particular, the consistent viewpoint is not to reorganize the apparatus like the district-level government model.
To complete the 2-level CQĐP model, the Secretary of Dong Nai proposed that the Central Government allow Dong Nai to continue to review and comprehensively assess the appropriateness of the commune level. This is the basis for researching and proposing plans to adjust boundaries, arrange, and merge commune-level administrative units.
Arranging and merging, in addition to continuing to streamline the organizational model and form large-scale development spaces, also helps Dong Nai focus resources, expand scope, create room and motivation for synchronous development, closely linked with socio-economic development orientations.
Previously, the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee had proposed that the Central Government consider allowing the province to study and continue arranging commune-level administrative units. This helps create space, resources, and room for development, while streamlining the apparatus and saving state budget funds.
According to Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee, the plan to establish 166 communes and wards currently has not thoroughly solved the existing problems in administrative boundaries. This causes difficulties for state management at the grassroots level, and also ensures security and social safety.
From current practice and based on local proposals, currently competent authorities are continuing to review and arrange commune-level administrative units that do not meet standards according to regulations. Currently, there are still 705 commune-level administrative units that do not meet standards.
However, the arrangement must still closely follow basic requirements, which is to be suitable for the specific characteristics of culture, history, tradition, ethnicity, religion, and geography.
Based on the conclusions of the Politburo, the Government will provide specific guidance and complete it completely in 2026.
