Strong decentralization and delegation of power, a launching pad for Hanoi's development

Creating a launch pad for localities

Decentralization, delegation of power, and delegation of decision-making power to localities is an important political task of Hanoi. As one of the leading provinces/cities in the country in decentralization and delegation of power, Hanoi has adjusted and supplemented the decentralization regulations for district level in 9 areas.

The city has delegated authority to districts in investing, renovating, upgrading, and expanding high schools; investing in clean water systems in remote areas; local wastewater treatment facilities that are not connected to the city's centralized water collection and wastewater treatment system; investing in first-class markets; providing electricity for alleys and lanes in districts; managing monuments, large-scale paintings; relics; parking lots and wharves; and traffic lights.

After 2 years of implementation, Hanoi has created a "launching pad" for localities with good resources, increased initiative, and substantial administrative reform at the district level; meeting the wishes and proposals from the grassroots.

In recent times, the promotion of decentralization and delegation of authority according to policies, resolutions and decisions of the Hanoi Party Committee - People's Council - People's Committee has helped all levels to be more proactive in implementing socio-economic development tasks.

Previously, there was a story about a high school construction project that took years to complete but was not approved, while the need for education of local children was increasingly urgent. The reason was that high schools were managed by the city level, so the investment in building the school was understood to be the city level; and the city level had too much work to do, and it was impossible to implement it immediately.

This hierarchical entanglement has also caused many schools to be damaged and degraded here and there, but they cannot be repaired because they have to wait for the city...

After careful consideration of legal and related issues, Hanoi leaders decided to decentralize the content of “investment, renovation, upgrading, and expansion of high schools” to districts. Thanks to that, the progress of repairing and building new high schools increased rapidly, allowing many new schools to be put into operation in the last school year.

Speaking with Lao Dong, National Assembly delegate Ta Van Ha - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education - said that it is necessary to boldly increase decentralization, delegation of power, and increase Hanoi's autonomy and self-determination.

This can be considered a strong pilot in decentralization and delegation of power, to best reform the apparatus and administrative procedures to shorten time, ensure timeliness, quality and efficiency.

According to the delegate, it is necessary to clarify direct responsibility associated with authority, in addition to assigning authority, it must be associated with responsibility. Responsibility here is accountability, responsibility before the Party, the State and the people, before superiors, enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of inspection and examination work...

“I think we need to be bold and consider this a breakthrough decision to develop Hanoi,” delegate Ta Van Ha emphasized.

Decentralization and delegation of power have had positive effects, but currently, there are still many issues that need attention. Many opinions point out that every day of delay in decentralization and delegation of power causes waste.

Speaking at the opening of the 10th Central Conference (13th tenure), mentioning strategic directions and solutions in the coming time, General Secretary To Lam said that it is necessary to promote decentralization and delegation of power with the motto "locality decides, locality acts, locality takes responsibility".

Obviously, decentralization and delegation of power are major concerns and are deeply topical today, especially in the relationship between ministries, branches and provinces and centrally run cities; between provincial and district levels; and between district and commune levels.

Creating an environment for staff to dare to think and dare to do

Since the beginning of the 2020-2025 term, the Hanoi Party Committee has directed the promotion of decentralization and delegation of power in the spirit of "wherever it does well, it will be assigned to that place".

In fact, the most difficult thing about decentralization and delegation of power is the breakthrough in ideology and awareness. If the ideology of the higher-level agencies still wants to "take on the work", it will be very difficult to promote decentralization and delegation of power to localities.

Instead, if agencies are willing to share and take common efficiency as the goal, decentralization and delegation of authority will quickly improve.

The recent examples of decentralization and delegation of power in Hanoi are practical evidence showing the feasibility, necessity and effectiveness of decentralization and delegation of power. They are also the basis for further motivation for other levels, sectors, provinces and cities to be confident, proactive and daring in decentralization and delegation of power.

Talking about increasing decentralization and delegation of authority, Chairman of Hai Ba Trung District People's Committee Nguyen Quang Trung affirmed that this also means requiring increased responsibility of each cadre, civil servant and public employee in performing assigned tasks.

Decentralization and delegation of authority help the district be more proactive with time than before. Some projects assigned to the district to implement such as renovating flower gardens, the project to build flower gardens around Thien Quang Lake, the Tran Nhan Tong walking street and surrounding areas, the project to renovate and repair public high schools in the district have been implemented proactively and saved a lot of time and costs.

That said, for districts with budgetary conditions and close to local realities, decentralization and authorization will be very effective and the invested construction works will ensure quality and modernity.

The leadership and direction of Party committees at all levels in promoting decentralization and delegation of power is very important. This is a difficult task. If resolutions and directives are not included in the Party committees' resolutions and directives to focus on leadership and direction and mobilize the participation of the entire political system, it will be difficult to succeed.

Without strong direction from the Party Committee, when faced with difficult tasks such as decentralization and delegation of power, the mentality of seeking safety, avoidance, shirking, and fear of responsibility will re-emerge, hindering the flow of innovation, the flow of creating an environment of initiative, dynamism, creativity, daring to think, daring to do, and daring to make breakthroughs among cadres and civil servants.