National Assembly deputies vote on the resolution on urban administration in HCM City on Monday morning. VNA/VNS Photo Doan Tuan

The document stipulates administration organisation at the municipal level, comprising the People’s Committee and the People’s Council. However, there are only People’s Committees at the district and ward levels.

The organisation of other administrative units in the city is subject to the Law on Local Government Organisation.

The newly-passed resolution will take effect next year and the implementation of new urban administrative models in HCM City will begin from July next year.

From July next year, chairmen and vice-chairmen of ward People’s Committees who are elected/employed before the month will start to work as State employees at the wards.

The employment, management and policies for commune officials remain as regulated in the Law on State employees and relevant regulations.

At the National Assembly’s meeting on Monday, head of the NA Committee for Legal Affairs Hoang Thanh Tung said the municipal People’s Council was empowered to give a vote of confidence to the chairman/chairwoman of the district People’s Committee to strengthen supervisory and power control of city’s government to district-level government.

So, chairmen/chairwomen of district People’s Committees could be appointed, dismissed or moved to other positions.

Under the resolution, ward People’s Committees will be no longer responsible for making the ward’s socio-economic plan or collecting funds for State budget. The ward People’s Committees will solely develop public spending estimates.

The urban administration model is also expected to help shorten the time to develop plans for socio-economic development.

Earlier, Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, said the administration project was first proposed in 2007 and amended in 2013. Legal problems delayed its implementation last year.

From 2009 to 2016, the city was abolishing People’s Councils at district and ward levels with the expectation to reduce overlapping functions and tasks of State governance and cut expenditures.

Despite positive results including improved governance, the elimination of the councils was stopped in 2016, Phong said.

“In a rapidly developing urban area like HCM City, People’s Councils in districts and wards create an intermediate level that slows down the working process. And the authority assigned to councils is already limited,” Phong said, adding that the removal of these People’s Councils helped to streamline administrative procedures. VNS

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