Under a plan on rearranging administrative units in 2012-2021 and establishing Thu Duc City, which has been reported by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the National Assembly’s Committee on Legal Affairs, HCM City has no district subject to compulsory arrangement.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Tran Anh Tuan talks about the plan on dealing with civil servants to become redundant

However, the city is still rearranging three districts, merging districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc to form Thu Duc City.

As for the commune level, HCM City has 10 out of 322 administrative units subject to compulsory rearrangement. Nine adjacent units are involved in the rearrangement and no unit is subject to encouraged rearrangement.

Under the plan, after the restructuring, the number of administrative units at district level will decrease from 24 to 22, and the number of administrative units at commune levels from 322 to 312. Eight new units will be established after the rearrangement but they do not meet the standards in natural area and population.

An Khanh and Thu Thiem wards belonging to the new urban area of Thu Thiem will not meet the standards after the rearrangement. However, after the urban area projects in the two wards are completed, the total population would be 130,000, or 8 times higher than required.

The committee, after preliminary examination, agreed with the rearrangement plan submitted by the government. The plan was opened to opinions from voters and the people’s councils at the administrative units bearing direct impact from the rearrangement and received high number of votes. It has also been agreed upon by 21 government members.

However, the committee said that the rearrangement of administrative units needs to be figured out based on existing conditions and standards, not on the expected figures in the future.

A lot of projects in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area have been going slowly because of appeals related to compensation for site clearance. Therefore, municipal authorities need to speed up projects in An Khanh and Thu Thiem wards.

Redundant officers
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Dealing with civil servants becoming redundant after restructuring is a difficult problem as the number is high.

After rearranging three districts to establish Thu Duc City, 399 civil servants will become redundant. Meanwhile, after rearranging 19 wards to form new administrative units, 102 civil servants and 133 unspecialized officers will become redundant.

Under the plan, in the period right after the rearrangement, the number of deputy heads and civil servants could be higher than allowed, but the staff will have to be streamlined gradually. In case there is no vacancy for them, they will be asked to resign and receive allowance in accordance with the city’s policies. 

Thu Hang

Special policy for new Thu Duc City suggested

The idea of establishing Thu Duc City has been supported by experts and voters, but they want a special policy and better name for the city suited to the current epoch and future as well.

New Thu Duc City to be set up within HCM City as special, livable innovation area

Thu Duc is expected to be the ‘nucleus’ of HCM City’s implementation of a smart, knowledge-based city, according to Director of HCM City Planning and Architecture Department Nguyen Thanh Nha.