She was speaking at a press briefing jointly held by the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee’s Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Board, the Department of Culture and Sports and the Ho Chi Minh City Journalists’ Association this morning. The press briefing aimed to provide update on the implementation of the two-tier local government system after ten days of operation.
According to Ms. Tham, the city has compiled a list of 322 district-level procedures proposed for reduction or responsibility reallocation to provincial or commune levels.
According to assessments, specialized agencies and all 168 wards, communes and special zones have been operational stably without disruption.
However, some difficulties persist, including issues with office facilities, incomplete software updates in certain areas and network connectivity problems at some units.
The city proposed to cut 51 administrative procedures, reassigning 45 procedures to provincial authorities, of which five procedures will be under authorizations of provincial and commune levels; and reassigning 231 procedures to commune-level authorities, including five procedures under authorizations of provincial and commune levels. A temporary list of 1,997 procedures was also announced, to be processed at provincial and commune-level one-stop public service centers across the city.
In order to prepare for the next phase, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Home Affairs Nguyen Thi Hong Tham said that the city has issued a training plan to help address challenges during the implementation of the two-tier local government system. Accordingly, the city has delegated city leaders to visit, listen and assess the situation at the localities.
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee also launched a peak emulation campaign named “100 Days of Streamlining, Effective, Efficient Operations”, in celebration of upcoming Party Congresses at all levels along with the HCMC Party Congress for the tenure of 2025–2030 and the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The Department of Home Affairs will closely monitor agencies and collect local feedback to report to relevant ministries for further solutions.
Regarding difficulties in local headquarters, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Home Affairs Nguyen Thi Hong Tham informed that the current personnel scale of new wards and communes according to general guidelines reaches a maximum of 70 people in government agencies and 30 people in Party and mass organizations, totaling about 100 people, in densely populated wards.
However, at the beginning of the mechanical integration, a ward has up to 150 cadres and civil servants on average, so the facilities could not be guaranteed in the initial phase.
In addition to continuing the streamlining process in five years, the city will also research to find a suitable solution for suitable headquarters arrangement.
