The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has put forward a plan on rearranging administrative units at district and commune levels in 2023-2030, expected to be done in two stages.

The administrative units at district level (districts, towns, cities belonging to provinces, cities under cities), and commune level (communes, wards, towns) subject to arrangement in 2023-2025 comprise three groups.

First, administrative units at district and commune levels with a population of below 70 percent of prescribed standards.

Second, administrative units at district level population scale of below 200 percent of prescribed standards.

Third, administrative units at commune level with population size below 300 percent of prescribed standards.

The administrative units at district and commune levels subject to arrangement in 2026-2030 also comprise three groups.

First, there are administrative units at district and commune levels with natural area and population scale of below 100 percent of standards stipulated in the National Assembly Standing Committee’s resolution.

Second, administrative units at district level with natural area of below 30 percent and population size of below 200 percent of prescribed standards.

Third, the administrative units at commune level with natural areas of below 30 percent and population scale below 300 percent of prescribed standards.

In addition, MHA has encouraged the re-arrangement of administrative units that don’t belong to the above-mentioned groups to reduce and streamline the state apparatus and facilitate management.

The standards for each type of administrative unit are stipulated in National Assembly Standing Committee Resolution No.1211/2016 and amended in Resolution No.27/2022.

The districts in mountainous areas must have a minimum area of 850 km2 and population of 80,000, while the remaining districts must have 850 km2 and 120,000 people.

The cities belonging to provinces and cities belonging to main cities must have a minimum area of 150 km2 and a population of 150,000, while towns must have 200 km2 and 100,000 people. Districts must have 35 km2 and 150,000 people.

Minister of MHA Pham Thi Thanh Tra said 2023-2024 is the peak time for arranging administrative units at district and commune levels.

Reviewing the rearrangement of administrative units in 2019-2021, MHA reported that 3,437 agencies at commune level and 429 agencies at district level have been eliminated.

As many as 706 officers at district level became redundant as a result of staff restructuring, while 361 have been handled. As many as 9,705 officers at commune level became redundant and 6,657 have been handled.

Thu Hang