Hanoi (VNA) – More than half of the total 11,162 communesnationwide (6,191 communes or 55.46 percent) do not meet even 50 percent of thecriteria on natural area and population as set by Resolution 1211/2016/UBTVQH13,according to Phan Van Hung, director of the local administration departmentunder the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Resolution 1211 specifies that a commune in plain and mid-land regionsshould have an area of at least 30 square kilometers and a population of atleast 8,000, while for those in mountainous and high land areas the criteriaare at least 50 sq.km and 5,000.

Also according to Hung, 259 out of the current 713 district-leveladministrative units nationwide do not meet 50 percent of the criteria onacreage and population set by Resolution 1211, either.

Therefore, it is necessary to rearrange administrative units at communallevels, he said, stressing that the move is to implement the Resolution 18-NQ/TWadopted by the 6th plenum of the 12th Party CentralCommittee on continuing to reform, rearrange the political system for astreamlined and effective apparatus.

The rearrangement and merger of administrative units that do not meet 50percent of acreage and population criteria from now to 2021 will be guided bythe principles of transparency and democracy with the involvement of localvoters and in accordance with set procedures. Priority will be given to merginga unit that do not meet criteria in its status quo with an adjacent unit of thesame level, Hung said. 

The resolution also set the target of completing the rearrangement ofadministrative units at district and communal levels in accordance with setcriteria between 2022 and 2030.

The number of administrative units from provincial to communal levelshas changed many times since 1975.

From 1975 to 1986, the number of provincial-level units dropped from 72to 40, then increased to 64 as of November 2003. In May 2008, the numberreduced to 63 with the merging of Hanoi and Ha Tay province and remained thesame until present.

Regarding district-level units, the number increased from 431 in 1986 to713 in 2016.

The number of communal-level units rose to 11,162 in 2016 from 9,657 in1986.

Hung said with the promulgation of the 2013 Constitution, the 2015 Lawon Organisation of Local Administration and the Resolution 1211/2016/UBTVQH13,the number of administrative units at district and communal levels has beenkept at 713 and 11,162, respectively, until now.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the division ofadministrative units in the early years of the economic reform produced somepositive effects, stimulating local socio-economic development, investment inlocal infrastructure and bringing the administrative apparatus close to the people.

However, it also resulted in a cumbersome apparatus with large numbersof State employees along with rising spending on salary payment and operationalcosts.

The large number of administrative units also caused difficulties inmaking long-term and macro development plans, and broke up local resources andpotential. -VNA