Leverage of two-tier local government in the new era - Final article

After a period of operating the 2-level local government apparatus, the localities of Da Nang city have been operating stably and smoothly, the difficulties in the initial stage have been identified and are being resolved. In fact, initial concerns about work interruptions were soon resolved, many outstanding issues that caused long-term frustration, especially in the land sector, have been resolved completely, creating satisfaction and trust among the people.

People of Duy Xuyen commune, Da Nang city carry out procedures to obtain Land Use Rights Certificates at the Public Administration Service Center.

Final article: For a government that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people

Overcoming the pressure in the early stages

In August 2025, in Son Cam Ha commune, Da Nang city, African swine fever broke out on a large scale. Mr. Nguyen Van Tu, in village 1, Son Cam Ha commune, said that before the epidemic broke out, his family's pig herd was up to nearly 150 pigs. When the epidemic broke out, his family reported it to the authorities, but the disease progressed complicatedly, almost all of his pigs were infected, causing considerable damage.

To prevent the spread of African swine fever, the People's Committee of Son Cam Ha commune sent veterinary staff and functional forces to support the family in cleaning the barn, disinfecting and sterilizing. On the other hand, the government supported the family in transporting all the sick pigs to a proper burial site in an area far from residential areas, providing timely support, helping the family overcome some of the damage caused by the epidemic, Mr. Tu shared.

Ms. Ho Thi Tu Cam, an expert from the Economic Department of Son Cam Ha Commune, said that by the end of September 2025, African swine fever had been controlled and pushed back in the entire commune. However, African swine fever still has the potential to reappear, while the number of veterinary staff who have previously retired has now left the locality, and there is a shortage of specialized staff in the field of animal husbandry and veterinary medicine. The support for epidemic prevention and control has not had specific instructions for implementation, causing many obstacles in the initial period of administrative management and public service implementation.

Also in the “war” against African swine fever, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Thang Binh Commune, Doan Thanh Khiet, shared that after the 2-level local government model had been in operation for a while, the locality faced a widespread epidemic. However, the initial difficulties did not delay the work of preventing and fighting the epidemic.

To carry out the task, Thang Binh commune established an interdisciplinary epidemic handling team, a destruction council, and a disinfection and sterilization team to serve the work of preventing and fighting epidemics in the commune. The commune issued a directive to all villages and units to synchronously deploy epidemic suppression and disinfection measures to prevent the epidemic from spreading widely. Thanks to that, by early September 2025, African swine fever in the commune was controlled and pushed back.

Thanks to the drastic participation and clear assignment of tasks, powers and responsibilities among the leadership and civil servants, after more than 2 months of operation, Son Cam Ha and Thang Binh communes have not only excellently completed the work of disease prevention and control but also completely adapted to the new working environment.

As an IT specialist of Son Cam Ha commune, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tien said that in the process of fighting African swine fever, Son Cam Ha, Thang Binh communes and localities in the epidemic area of ​​Da Nang city have effectively used electronic documents, emails, SMS messages, Zalo combined with the broadcasting system to directly communicate instructions, commands, and promptly inform the community about the epidemic situation to proactively prevent widespread spread.
According to Mr. Tien, with the current huge workload, the commune-level government needs 2-3 more staff with expertise in information technology to support all aspects of work more effectively.

Supporting local authorities

After more than 2 months of operation, the Public Administration Service Centers in localities have operated electronic document management software, received and processed basic administrative procedures of people and businesses. The basic equipment and internet connection systems have been put into operation smoothly. Localities have updated and posted full administrative procedures in a timely manner and arranged appropriate human resources to receive and return results of documents within the scope and field of management, especially in the field of land.
According to Chairman of the People's Committee of Son Cam Ha Commune, Pham Viet Hau, the commune level is assigned more work than before. Meanwhile, due to the "mechanical addition" of staff after the merger, the professional qualifications of civil servants are not really suitable for the job position, leading to a situation of both surplus and shortage of staff in the locality, which needs to be resolved promptly.

Staff of Duy Xuyen Commune Administrative Service Center, Da Nang City guide people to carry out administrative procedure requirements.

In fact, after more than 2 months of operating the 2-level government, each position requires higher expertise to meet the requirements. The system of documents on management and guidance for subordinates is not yet complete, making it difficult to implement. Along with that, there are too many reporting regimes, and the directive documents from superiors are numerous and overlapping, causing difficulties for local authorities.

The leader of the Department of Home Affairs of Da Nang said that although it has achieved many positive results, Da Nang still faces some initial difficulties and limitations in the process of operating the two-level local government. Specifically, the facilities and equipment in some remote communes are not yet synchronized. The operation of shared systems sometimes encounters errors or problems due to the transmission line. Some officials, civil servants and public employees are still confused when using the systems to handle administrative procedures. Some communes and wards still lack human resources with professional qualifications in information technology.

According to statistics, Da Nang currently has 25 communes and wards lacking 154 civil servants, mainly in key areas such as justice, civil status, land administration, construction, urban and environment, culture - society , finance - accounting, office - statistics. On the contrary, in 67 inner-city communes and wards, the number of cadres exceeds the demand with 741 people, leading to an imbalance, with some places having excess and some lacking.
To solve this problem, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Da Nang City signed a decision to issue Project No. 1342/QD-UBND with the goal of: Reviewing and rearranging cadres and civil servants of communes and wards; mobilizing and seconding from areas with surplus to areas with shortage; strengthening forces for mountainous and remote areas to ensure smooth operations of local authorities.

Director of the Department of Home Affairs of Da Nang City Phan Van Binh said that the team of cadres and civil servants at the commune level plays an important role, deciding the effectiveness of the operation of the local government at the commune level, especially in the process of operating the two-level local government.

The arrangement and assignment of cadres according to the Project will be implemented in accordance with the principles of democratic centralism, prudence, and strictness; ensuring objectivity, fairness, impartiality, openness, and transparency.

The project is based on professional qualifications, capacity, strengths, prestige, and work experience, ensuring inheritance and development; avoiding local tendencies, "group interests," and negativity in assigning and arranging staff, creating conditions for implementing decentralized tasks, improving the effectiveness of local government operations, so that the government is truly close to the people, of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/don-bay-chinh-quyen-dia-phuong-2-cap-trong-ky-nguyen-moi-bai-cuoi-20250928130637616.htm