According to Resolution 1211, what are regulations on the provincial merger scheme in Vietnam?

According to Resolution 1211, what are regulations on the provincial merger scheme in Vietnam? (Image from the internet)

According to Resolution 1211, what are regulations on the provincial merger scheme in Vietnam?

According to Article 26 of Resolution 1211/2016/UBTVQH13 (amended and supplemented by Resolution 27/2022/UBTVQH15), the scheme for the establishment and integration of administrative unit boundaries (including provincial administrative units) is prescribed as follows:

* The Scheme comprises 5 parts:

- Part One: Legal basis and necessity;

- Part Two: History of formation and current status of administrative units related directly to the establishment, merger, division, and adjustment of administrative unit boundaries.

This part includes the history of formation; geographic location; functions and roles with respect to the establishment of cities, district-level towns, commune-level towns; natural area and structure of various types of land; population and structure, composition of inhabitants (age; urban population; ethnic composition; agricultural and non-agricultural labor); the socio-economic, cultural, infrastructural development status, national defense, security and organizational structure, payroll of officials in the politics system in the area; detailed evaluation of the level of meeting the criteria of administrative units as prescribed in Resolution 1211/2016/UBTVQH13 (if applicable);

- Part Three: Plan for the establishment, merger, division, and adjustment of administrative unit boundaries.

This part includes the current status of natural area, population (as of December 31 of the year preceding the year in which the file is submitted to the competent authority for assessment), of the provincial-level administrative unit, and related administrative units concerning the establishment, merger, division, or adjustment of boundaries; the plan for such establishment, merger, division, adjustment concerning natural area, population, and administrative boundaries; results following the establishment, merger, division, adjustment concerning natural area, population, and administrative unit levels;

- Part Four: Evaluation of impacts and development orientation of the administrative units after the establishment, merger, division, adjustment.

This part includes an evaluation of socio-economic, environmental, defense, security impacts; development orientation; solutions regarding budget, investment capital; plans for arranging officials, and other solutions to implement the development direction of the administrative unit;

- Part Five: Conclusion and recommendations;

* Appendices accompany the project, including statistical tables of the natural area and population size of administrative units directly related to the establishment, merger, division, adjustment of administrative boundaries; statistical tables of key socio-economic development indicators; maps of the current administrative boundaries directly related; and a documentary (15 to 20 minutes) on the position, current socio-economic development, and infrastructure of the proposed area for establishing, merging, dividing, adjusting administrative boundaries;

A summary of the standards of the administrative unit; tables and figures confirmed by competent authorities as a basis for determining the standards of administrative units; urban classification scheme dossiers; files recognizing standards for urban infrastructure development level for proposed areas to establish districts, wards; documents by competent authorities determining or certifying special characteristics of administrative units (if applicable).

Note:

- Within 30 days from the receipt of a complete project dossier, the Minister of Internal Affairs shall submit to the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam for a decision to establish an appraisal council for the project of provincial-level administrative boundary merger; decide on the establishment of the council and preside over, cooperate with relevant ministries and central agencies to organize the appraisal of projects for establishing, merging, dividing, adjusting district-level, commune-level administrative boundaries; lead the organization of surveys to support the appraisal process.

- Indicators on the percentage of non-agricultural labor, per capita income per month compared to the national average, the average economic growth rate over the last three years of urban administrative units in the project for establishing, merging, dividing, adjusting administrative boundaries are determined according to the methodology prescribed in Appendix 3 of the Resolution of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on urban classification.

+ Population size data of administrative unit in projects for establishing, merging, dividing, adjusting administrative boundaries include permanent and convertible temporary population. Convertible temporary population data is determined according to the methodology prescribed in Appendix 3 of the Resolution of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on urban classification. Data to determine population size standards are provided, confirmed by competent police authorities.

+ Evaluation data on the standards of administrative units in the project for establishing, merging, dividing, adjusting administrative boundaries shall be data as of December 31 of the year preceding the year the project file is sent to the reviewing body and is provided, confirmed, or published by competent state authorities.

- For commune-level administrative units that do not organize People's Councils, the project for establishment, dissolution, merger, division, adjustment shall seek opinions from People's Councils at the provincial and district levels. In cases where the district-level administrative unit does not organize People's Councils, the project seeks opinions from provincial-level People's Councils.

Will some provinces in Vietnam be merged according to Conclusion 126?

The Politburo has issued Conclusion 126-KL/TW regarding several contents, tasks to continue rearranging, streamlining the organizational structure of the political system in 2025.

A notable content in Conclusion 126-KL/TW is the task of continuing to reorganize and perfect the organizational structure of the political system in 2025, and during the period 2025-2030, whereby:

The Politburo assigns the Communist Party’s the Government of Vietnam to preside, cooperate with the Central Organization Commission, the Communist Party’s National Assembly, relevant party-level committees, and organizations:

- Research direction to continue eliminate the intermediate administrative level (remove district level);

- Develop a plan to continue arranging commune-level in line with a new organizational model, propose organizational structure, functions, duties, powers, responsibilities of the commune level;

- Orient the merger of certain provincial-level administrative units;

- Propose policies to amend, supplement legal regulations, Communist Party regulations, report to the Politburo in the third quarter of 2025.

Thus, according to Conclusion 126-KL/TW, research will be conducted to eliminate the district-level administrative units, along with merging provinces and communes to conform with a new organizational model.

However, the removal of district level, as well as the provincial merger mentioned in Conclusion 126-KL/TW is still under research, orientation, development of plans, and a report to the Politburo in the third quarter of 2025.

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