After more than 35 years of renovation and development, the organizational and operational model of local governments is constantly being built and developed - Photo: angiang.gov.vn

During the process of leading the Vietnamese revolutionary, the Party has always attached great importance to improving and perfecting the organizational apparatus and operational efficiency of local governments. Under conditions of war in the country, local governments are organized and operated under a centralized command mechanism. The 6th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (National Congress) set out the reform of country. The National Congress advocated decentralization of management between the central and local levels with the fundamental principle that: “The decentralization of management shall ensure the ownership of three levels: the decision-making power of the central government (including central agencies) over key areas and issues of strategic significance, ensuring the balanced development of the entire economy; the rights of localities to take initiative in performing their socio-economic management responsibilities in the territory; production and business autonomy of the grassroots economic units and the ownership role of labour collectives. In the assignment and decentralization of management, responsibilities shall go along with rights and obligations shall be associated with benefits”⁽¹⁾.

After more than 35 years of renovation and development, the organizational and operational model of local governments is constantly being built and developed. However, there are still some issues that require further renovation. Therefore, the Resolution of the 13^th National Congress affirmed: “Continue to perfect the local government organization”⁽²⁾ and “strongly renovate decentralization”⁽³⁾.

1. Actual situation of organization and operation of local governments

Regarding the organizational model, before the renovation process in 1986, the local government model in our country was organized according to a homogenous model, there was no distinction between the government in the countryside and the government in the city. Since the start of the country’s renovation through to today, the organizational and operational model of local governments in our country has undergone many reforms and developments in both legal and practical aspects. In 2013, the National Assembly passed the Constitution, which stipulates local government forms suitable for rural areas, urban areas, islands, and special administrative-economic units. Specifically, in Clause 2, Article 111 of Constitution 2013, it is defined: “Local government level consists of the People’s Council and the People’s Committee, which is organized in accordance with the characteristics of rural areas, urban areas, islands, and special administrative-economic units prescribed by law”. On the basis of the 2013 Constitution, the 2015 Law on Local government organization clearly defines local governments in rural, urban and island areas. Thus, according to the 2013 Constitution and the 2015 Law on Local government organization, the model of local governments is diversified, in accordance with the natural, socio-economic characteristics of the administrative units; clearly defines the functions, tasks, authority and characteristics of these administrative units.

The practice of building local government agencies, especially urban governments, has continued to pose a requirement to perfect the law on organization and operation of local governments. Therefore, the Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on the Government organization and the 2019 Law on Local government organization were introduced, has amended and supplemented the law to meet the requirements of reality. Accordingly, Article 4 of the 2015 Law on Local government organization has been amended as follows: “Local governments are organized in administrative units of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as prescribed in Article 2 of this Law in accordance with the characteristics of rural areas, urban areas, islands, and special administrative-economic units” (Clause 1, Article 2)”; This Law also amends and supplements Article 44 of the 2015 Law on Organization of Local governments into: “Local governments in a district is the level of local government, except for specific cases where the National Assembly stipulates that it is not the level of local government” (Clause 14, Article 2); Article 58 of the 2015 Law on Local government organization was amended and supplemented to: “Local governments in wards is the local level of government, except for specific cases where the National Assembly stipulates that it is not the level of local government” (Clause 17, Article 2). The introduction of the Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on the Government organization and the 2019 Law on Local government organization has supplemented and completed the legal basis for the urban government model.

In addition to building and perfecting the legal basis for reforming the model of local government organization, the National Assembly has also implemented a number of pilot projects to serve as a basis for reforming the model of local government organization in our country. Specifically, in the period 2009-2016, the National Assembly piloted the project of not organizing the People’s Councils at wards and districts in 10 provinces and cities across the country according to Resolution No.26/2008/QH12.

The basic content of the project is to maintain the People’s Council in local governments of basic administrative units such as provinces, centrally-run cities, communes, towns and townships, and intermediate administrative units such as districts, wards, do not need to organize a People’s Council, but only need to establish a People’s Committee or may not have a People’s Committee, but only a division that acts as an “extension arm” of the superior government. The districts and wards participating in the pilot are specified in Resolution No.724/2009/UBTVQH12 of the National Assembly Standing Committee, including 67 districts, 32 districts and 438 communes of 10 provinces and cities across the country, including Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. The pilot implementation period started in 2009 and lasted for more than 6 years. At the same time, the Government, relevant ministries and sectors and localities participating in the pilot have issued documents specifying and guiding the implementation and preparing other necessary conditions for the pilot project to be effectively implemented. The project pilot results are the practical basis for the Party and the State to continue supplementing and perfecting policies on renovating local governments in the direction of diversifying the organizational model and building the government apparatus in the direction of streamlining, effectiveness and efficiency.

From the above-mentioned political, legal and practical bases, the 14^th National Assembly promulgates Resolutions on organizing the pilot model of the urban government for Hanoi and Da Nang and building the urban government for Ho Chi Minh City. Specifically, on November 27, 2019, the National Assembly approved Resolution No. 97/2019/QH14 on piloting the urban government model in Hanoi City (referred to as Resolution No.97/2019/QH14). According to the Resolution, the urban government model in Hanoi City will include: Local governments in cities, districts, towns, communes and townships are full levels of local governments, including People’s Councils and People’s Committees (tasks and powers shall comply with the provisions of the Law on Organization of Local governments, other relevant provisions of law, and specific tasks and powers in Resolution No.97/2019/QH14); Local governments in wards of districts or towns are People’s Committees of wards (tasks, powers, organizational structure and working regime in compliance with the provisions of Articles 5 and 6 of Resolution No.97/2019/QH14). The implementation period is from July 1, 2021 until a time in which the National Assembly decides to terminate this pilot.

For Da Nang city, on June 19, 2020, the National Assembly approved Resolution No.119/2020/QH14 on piloting the organization of an urban government model and a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Da Nang City (referred to as Resolution No.119/2020/QH14). According to the Resolution, local governments in Da Nang city, Hoa Vang district and communes contain all levels of local governments, including the People’s Council and the People’s Committee; Local governments in districts and wards of districts in the city are the People’s Committee of the district, the People’s Committee of the ward. The pilot period was started from July 1, 2021 until a time in which the National Assembly decides to terminate the pilot.

On November 16, 2020, the National Assembly passed Resolution No.131/2020/QH14 on the organization of urban government in Ho Chi Minh City. According to the Resolution, the local government of Ho Chi Minh City contains all levels of local government, including the City People’s Council and the City People’s Committee; The local governments in the districts are the People’s Committees of the districts (executing the tasks and powers in accordance with the provisions of this Resolution and according to the decentralization and authorization of the People’s Committee, the Chairman of the City People’s Committee); The local authority in the wards of the district is the ward People’s Committee (shall execute the tasks and powers in accordance with the provisions of this Resolution and according to the decentralization and authorization of the People’s Committee, the Chairman of the City People’s Committee, the People’s Committee of the district); Local governments in other administrative units of Ho Chi Minh City shall comply with the provisions of the Law on Organization of Local governments. The city is one of the units that has participated in the pilot program without organizing the People’s Council of districts and wards on a large scale, with the largest number of pilot administrative units in the country (24 districts and 259 wards). Therefore, the organization of urban government in Ho Chi Minh City has a full legal basis and has been tested in practice.

Along with promoting organizational reform, local governments are also given more authority in the process of performing their functions, tasks and powers. The policy of power decentralization for local governments was proposed by the 6th National Congress and institutionalized in the Constitution of 2013, the Law on Government Organization and Law on Local government organization of 2019, specialized laws, resolutions of the National Assembly and the Government. Decentralization policies are promoted for provincial governments, in basic areas such as administration, organizational structure, and personnel. Resolution No.08/2004/NQ-CP and then Resolution No.21/2016/NQ-CP of the Government on decentralization of state management between the Government and the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government. Recently, the National Assembly has continued to increase autonomy over a number of provinces and centrally run cities with specific mechanisms and policies.

Three localities have been piloted by the central government with specific mechanisms and policies, namely Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang. Specifically:

For Ho Chi Minh City, on the basis of considering the proposal of the City, on November 24, 2017, the 14^th National Assembly approved Resolution No.54/2017/QH14 on piloting specific development mechanisms and policies for Ho Chi Minh City (referred to as Resolution No.54/2017/QH14) giving the Ho Chi Minh City government more powers than are provided by specialized laws. With 18 items in 5 areas such as land management, investment management, financial - budget management, decentralization and authorization mechanism and regimes as well as policies for cadres, civil servants and public employees.

For Da Nang city, after the implementation of Resolution No.33-NQ/TW, the Politburo continued to issue Resolution No.43-NQ/TW on the construction and development of Da Nang city to 2030, with a vision to 2045. With this resolution, the Politburo agreed with the view that “specific mechanisms and policies are needed to build and develop Da Nang city, creating a driving force for regional development of Center, Central Highlands and the whole country. The policy of the Politburo has been institutionalized by Resolution No.119/2020/QH14 of the National Assembly on piloting the organization of an urban government model and a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Da Nang city. Specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Da Nang city focus on urban planning, financial and budgetary management, and increase the authority for the City Council in deciding on a number of fields that were previously under the authority of the Central Government.

For Hanoi City, the National Assembly promulgated Resolution No.115/2020/QH14 on piloting the application of a number of specific mechanisms and policies on management of state budget revenues and expenditures, loan balance and utilization of financial reserve funds, increasing the authority of the City Council in deciding on some issues of local development policy.

In addition to the large cities that have been piloted by the Central Government with specific mechanisms and policies, at the 2nd Plenum of the 15^th National Assembly, the National Assembly continued to approve a number of specific mechanisms and policies for four localities: Hai Phong, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa and Thua Thien Hue.

Specific mechanisms and policies applying to 7 provinces and centrally-run cities are the initial pilot steps to ensure the autonomy and self-responsibility of local governments in the performance of their assigned and decentralized tasks and powers as specified by the Law on Local government organization. This pilot’s results will be the basis for the Central to continue to perfect the decentralized institutions in the direction of ensuring autonomy and self-responsibility for localities.

The practice of renovating the organization and operation of local governments has brought many positive results. Local governments were renovated in the direction of diversifying the organizational model, in accordance with the nature of the administrative unit. The organization of the administrative apparatus at the district and commune levels has been streamlined in order to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of state management. The policy of decentralization has been promoted, giving local governments more autonomy and policy space for development.

Besides these achievements, the organizational and operational model of local governments in our country are still limited. Since the start of the renovation process, our country has repeatedly merged and split administrative units, leading to continuous fluctuations in the quantity of units, especially provincial administrative units. In 1986, the whole country had 45 provinces and cities, while today it has increased to 63 provinces and centrally-run cities⁽⁴⁾. The issue of administrative units has not been clarified in either theory or practice, leading to confusion in the Central Government in choosing the organizational model for local governments. “Due to not properly identifying the administrative units, we cannot solve the problem of how many levels of government are organized in the province, how many levels of government in the city, which level has the people’s council, and which level has only the people’s committee”⁽⁵⁾.

Regarding the degree of autonomy of local governments, the building and completion of institutions on decentralization are the efforts made by the Vietnamese Government to increase the autonomy and self-responsibility for local governments. However, with the current approach to the principles and decentralization mechanism, the degree of autonomy has not yet been achieved. Localities still lack resources and conditions for autonomy. Therefore, many localities do not have the capacity for autonomy and self-responsibility in the process of managing and operating their tasks and affairs.

Regarding the urban government model, although it has been implemented in some localities, it is still at the beginning stage; there are still many steps to be taken to build and operate the organizational apparatus in practice.

In addition, the research and building of institutions in special administrative-economic units is a new issue, requiring great efforts and consensus among the Party, the State and the people.

Assessing the limitations of local governments in our country today, the 13^th National Party Congress stated: “The organization and operation of local governments in some places have not been renovated efficiently; functions, tasks, decentralization are not very clear; effectiveness and efficiency of operation are still limited”⁽⁶⁾. Therefore, the Congress advocated continuing to renovate the organizational and operational model of the local governments.

2. Continue to renovate the organizational and operational model of local governments in the spirit of the 13^th National Party Congress

From the successes and limitations in the process of building and perfecting the institution on organization and operation of local governments, the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress affirmed: “Continuing to perfect the local government organization in a suitable manner with rural areas, urban areas, islands, special administrative and economic units as prescribed by law; implement and summarize the urban government piloting in order to build and operate urban government governance models in the direction of streamlined, effective and efficient operation”⁽⁷⁾.

Regarding decentralization, the Congress pointed out: “Strongly renovating decentralization, decentralization, delegation and improving coordination efficiency in leadership, direction and administration; Consolidating and perfecting the local government system; clearly delineating responsibilities and powers between the central and local governments”; “Renovating state budget decentralization, clearly delineating revenue sources and spending tasks of budget levels in the direction of enhancing the leading role of the central budget, while ensuring the autonomy, self-responsibility, encouraging and promoting creativity of local governments”⁽⁸⁾.

In order to continue renovating the organizational and operational model of local governments in the spirit of the Resolution of the 13^th National Congress, in the coming time, it is necessary to continue to study and implement some of the following solutions:

Firstly, rationally organize and divide administrative units and the contingent of cadres, civil servants and public employees

In order to continue renovating in the organizational model of local governments, first of all, it is necessary to reorganize the administrative units in a reasonable way. The identification of a rural, urban or island administrative unit will be the basis for determining the development needs of legal institutions appropriate to the nature of that unit. This is the basis for diversifying the organizational and operational model of local governments in accordance with the administrative units being promoted by the Party and the State in recent years. Further, it is necessary to reorganize administrative units in the direction of reducing the number of provincial administrative units. Currently, our country has 63 provinces and cities with smaller area and population compared to other provinces and cities in the region and the world⁽⁹⁾. Therefore, it is necessary to study and reorganize administrative units in the direction of reducing the number of focal points by the merging of provinces, proceeding the study of the regional management model as proposed by some National Assembly deputies and the current Ministry of Home Affairs⁽¹⁰⁾.

The construction of regional local governments is necessary to create the capacity to link and coordinate among local governments of the provinces; concentrate investment and development resources for the larger region, limit the spread of investment and development in each province; eliminate unfair competition and local conflicts of interest among provinces; promote the role of regional linkages in socio-economic development; reducing the number of focal points, thereby reducing the Government’s administrative burden on provincial administrative units, avoiding institutional fragmentation and ensuring the long-term development goals of the country.

Along with the rearrangement of administrative units at all levels, the Central Government needs to study and properly rearrange the contingent of cadres and civil servants. For the current contingent of cadres and civil servants at all levels, when carrying out organizational reorganization, the apparatus shall concurrently study a plan to rearrange the contingent of cadres and civil servants to suit their working positions and remuneration regimes. At the same time, it is necessary to organize professional training and improvement for the staff to meet the requirements for the new positions. It is necessary to have a suitable policy to attract and treat reasonable employees with sufficient virtue and talent to create a close relationship between employees and the organization, and to promote the service capacity of cadres and civil servants in the government apparatus at all levels. Completing the mechanism, promoting the attraction and creation of cadres from excellent graduates, promising young scientists, and special attention shall be paid to the strategy of training and fostering the next generations of staff.

Secondly, continue to improve the institution of local governments, promote decentralization

Continuing to study and perfect the legal institution on local governments on the basis of clearly defined position, functions, tasks and powers of the local governments, clearly delineating the tasks and powers between the central government and the local governments. In the structuring of the local governments of our country, local governments at the provincial level are the highest level, has an important legal status, is competent and takes the main responsibility for the development of its locality. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the institution of provincial government in the direction of increasing empowerment and accompanying resources and conditions so that this level of government has enough tools and authority in the management and administration of local affairs, ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of socio-economic management and state discipline in the locality.

On the principle of decentralization, it is necessary to study and apply according to the motto: whichever task an authority level performs more effectively, so it is assigned to such a level; the affairs or tasks shall be implemented according to a principle that what the subordinate cannot perform, it shall be done by the superior one; the decentralization shall clearly state the authority and responsibility of each task to be performed by only one level, associated with the functions and tasks of each level, and shall ensure financial conditions, human resources and other necessary conditions for effective implementation.

For tasks that have been decentralized, the government at that level shall take full responsibility for its decisions; the superior government shall strengthen inspection and supervision, but does not intervene and replace its subordinate.

Thirdly, continue to renovate the organizational and operational model of local governments in accordance with the nature of the administrative-territorial units.

Continue to research, develop and perfect the legislation on local governments to meet the requirements of further renovating local governments at all levels. First of all, concerning the urban government model being piloted in Hanoi, Da Nang and deployed in Ho Chi Minh City, the National Assembly and local governments in these cities need to continue developing and perfecting the institutional and organizational apparatus, completing the rearrangement of the contingent of cadres and civil servants to suit the new employment positions. Focus on professional training and fostering for cadres and civil servants to meet the requirements and tasks in the organization of the urban government apparatus, especially in urban development planning, infrastructure development, urban environment management and climate change response; urban construction management, urban design and urban heritage conservation, management of land, housing and real estate market, urban construction investment capital, capital policies and solutions for urban construction and development.

Promote the construction of a smart and modern cities; strengthen citizen’s supervision mechanisms for the operation of urban government. For cities being piloted, it is necessary to have timely summaries and lessons learned for due adjustment before officially organizing the local government model. Strengthen decentralization for urban governments, ensure autonomy in the fields of budget, finance, organizational structure, population management, and environmental protection.

For large urban centers or core areas that have been completely developed, it is necessary to improve the organizational structure and strengthen the empowerment more widely so that the city can self-determine zoning such as planning, infrastructure and land; cities are small, have a streamlined organizational structure, and are assigned with lower levels of autonomy.

For special administrative-economic units, the central government shall promote further research on the political, legal and practical bases, get opinions of scientists, experts, and among the people to perfect the institution of local government model in accordance with the characteristics of the special administrative-economic unit, in a timely fashion.

Fourthly, strengthen the building of e-government

Building e-government is one of the important solutions in administrative reform with the goal of improving people’s satisfaction, improving the efficiency and transparency of government operations, ensuring fairness, standards, efficiency and saving in state management. Therefore, building e-government is the trend of national governance in countries around the world today.

In our country, right from the 2000s, the Government of Vietnam has paid attention to the trend of building e-government and up to now, according to the assessment of the United Nations, “Vietnam has attained a continuous increase in the ranking of e-government in the past 6 years (from 99^th rank in 2014 to 86^th rank in 2020)”⁽¹¹⁾. Therefore, building e-government is an important aspect mentioned in the 10-year socio-economic development strategy for 2021-2030: “Strengthening the building of e-government, towards digital government, focusing on developing digital infrastructure to serve state agencies in a centralized and transparent manner; synchronously design, build and put into operation an integrated and interconnected system of large databases, especially data on population, health, education, insurance, businesses, land, housing, timely and effective services for socio-economic development and people’s life”⁽¹²⁾.

To successfully build e-government, it is necessary to increase the application of information technology and smart technology, to connect and smoothly operate the operational management software to gradually duplicate the provision of public services. Actively review and promptly supplement regulations to perfect the legal basis and promote the application of information technology in state management and public service provision such as regulations on data management, connection, sharing; identification and electronic authentication for individuals and organizations. Strengthen the handling of administrative procedures by the electronic environment, gradually shifting from the form of desk work to operating and handling work via the electronic environment. Improve the rate and efficiency of receiving and handling administrative procedures for public services, promote administrative reform, publicity, transparency and anti-corruption; improve service quality for people and businesses.

It is required to actively propagate, disseminate and guide people and businesses to use online public services and communicate with local state agencies through the e-government system. Increase investment in developing technical infrastructure, shared platforms and databases of industries to build e-government. To foster professional knowledge and expertise for government officials at all levels, to meet the requirements of e-government implementation in localities.

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Received: January 2, 2022; Revised: January 17, 2022; Accepted for Publication: June 20, 2022.

Endnotes:

(1) CPV: Complete Party Documents, vol.47, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2006, p.400.

(2), (3), (6), (7), (8), (12) CPV: Documents of the 13^th National Party Congress, vol.I, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, pp.178, 225, 90, 178, 225-226, 225.

(4) General Statistics Office (2021): Statistical Yearbook 2020, at https://www.gso.gov.vn/du-lieu-va-so-lieu-thong-ke/2021/07/nien-giam-thong-ke-2021/, accessed May 20, 2021.

(5) Truong Dac Linh: Promoting the historical, political and legal values of the 1946 Constitution in the current renovation cause, https://quochoi.vn/tulieuquochoi/anpham/Pages/anpham.aspx?AnPhamItemID=266, accessed on August 1, 2021.

(9) Vietnam has an area: 331,051 km2; population: 97.34 million. Each province has an average area of 5,255 km2, population: 1,545 million. While Indonesia has an area: 1905,000 km2; population: 237,500 million, 34 provinces, each province has an average area of 56,300; population: 6,990 million. Thailand has an area: 513,120 km2; population: 69.8 million; 75 provinces; each province has an average area of 6,842; population: 6,990 million. Korea has an area: 100,200 km2; population: 50,000 million, 17 provinces, each province has an average area of 5,890; population: 2,940. Japan has an area: 377,944 km2; population: 125.8 million, 8 regions, 47 provinces, the average of each province is: 8,040 km2; 2,700 million people. France has an area: 551,700 km2; population: 63,500 million, 22 regions, 96 provinces, each province has an area of 5,750 km2 and 0.660 million people.

(10) B. Ngoc: Piloting to merge provinces to streamline the apparatus, https://tuoitre.vn/thi-diem-sap-nhap-cac-tinh-de-tinh-gon-bo-may20210716224212931.htm, July 17, 2021.

(11)  Hoang Thi Kim Chi: Building e-government in Vietnam - Initial results and issues to be further promoted, https://tcnn.vn/news/detail/49459/Xay-dung-chinh-phu-dien-tu-o-Viet-Nam-ket-qua-buoc-dau-va-nhung-van-de-can-tiep-tuc-day-manh.html, accessed on September 20, 2021.

MA. HOANG THI THAO

University of Education, Hue University