Proposing new criteria on area and population at provincial and communal levels after merger

Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are special administrative units.

The Ministry of Justice is reviewing the Draft Decree on the classification of provincial and communal administrative units. In its submission, the Ministry of Home Affairs cited resolutions passed by the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee, stating that the country has 34 provincial-level administrative units and 3,321 communal-level units.

The process of arranging administrative units has fundamentally changed the size of the area and the average population, far exceeding the standard threshold established in Resolution No. 1211/2016 of the National Assembly Standing Committee. In addition, the formation of "special zones" is completely new, beyond the scope of the above resolution.

*Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City continue to be special administrative units.*

On that basis, the decree was developed to build a set of criteria for classifying administrative units based on selective inheritance of relevant regulations and amending contents that are no longer suitable to post-merger practices.

Regarding standards, the draft decree stipulates that, except for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which are special administrative units, the remaining administrative units are divided into 3 types (type I, type II, type III), implemented by the scoring method.

Specifically, for centrally-run cities, the draft stipulates that Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are special-class administrative units, and centrally-run cities are class I administrative units.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, in reality, cities such as Hue, Hai Phong, Da Nang, and Can Tho have met all the highest criteria in terms of population, area, socio-economics, infrastructure, finance, and administration. Therefore, the classification procedure is just a formality.

"The regulation that these cities are of course of type I not only ensures stability, transparency, reduces procedures, but also creates a legal basis for specific policies appropriate to the role of these cities," the Ministry of Home Affairs stated.

Provinces will be divided into 3 categories according to 5 criteria.

For provinces, the draft decree stipulates division into 3 types (types I, II, III) based on the total score of 5 standard groups, including: Population size standards; natural area; number of affiliated administrative units; socio-economic conditions; and specific factor standards.

For commune level, the draft Decree is also divided into 3 types (types I, II, III) based on the total score of 4 groups of standards, specifically: Population size standards; natural area; socio-economic conditions; and specific factors.

Similar to the ward level, the draft also stipulates 3 types (types I, II, III) based on the total score of 4 standard groups similar to those for communes, but with adjustments to the maximum and minimum levels of each criterion and standard to suit the specific characteristics of population size, natural area and socio-economic development level of the ward.

Meanwhile, for special zones, the draft Decree stipulates that for special zones classified as urban areas, the ward classification standards will apply, and for the remaining cases, the commune classification standards will apply; at the same time, it stipulates that the score for the special factor of the special zone is 10 points (maximum).

The Ministry of Home Affairs emphasized that, in addition to the scoring system according to the above criteria and standards, the draft decree also stipulates priority points for administrative units with outstanding scale (provinces and communes with natural area from 300% of the prescribed standards; wards with population size from 300% of the prescribed standards).

Along with that is priority for administrative units in particularly difficult areas or identified as having a central position and role in socio-economic development of the province/city or inter-commune and ward areas.

"The regulation of priority scores is a mechanism to ensure that administrative units of outstanding and important nature are given attention and allocated resources for investment, development and management," the Ministry of Home Affairs explained.

A delta province must have at least 1.4 million people and 5,000 km2.

According to the draft, a delta province must have a minimum of 1.4 million people and 5,000 km2 (Resolution 1211 currently only stipulates 900,000 people and 2,500 km2).

At the level of centrally-governed cities, the standard threshold is raised to a minimum population of 2.5 million people and a minimum area of 2,500 km2 (previously 1 million people and 1,500 km2).

A plain commune must have at least 16,000 people and 30 km2 of area; a mountainous commune must have 5,000 people and 100 km2 of area.

A ward in a centrally-run city must have at least 21,000 people, a ward in a province must have 14,000 people and an area of 5.5 km2.

According to Tien Phong Newspaper

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/xa-hoi/202509/de-xuat-tieu-chi-moi-ve-dien-tich-dan-so-cap-tinh-xa-sau-sap-nhap-1d12b86/