City’s new administration model to be submitted to Politburo

A conference to give opinions to a pilot project for building a new urban administration model for Ho Chi Minh City was conducted in the city on Monday.

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The meeting was co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee Le Thanh Hai – both are members of the Political Bureau.

The event is considered the last official meeting of the city to discuss the project before presenting it to the Government, which will review it and then refer it to the Politburo in March for consideration.

Chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan presented to the conference the summary content of the project, which is aimed at creating a better administrative apparatus that facilitates the city in fully tapping its potential and resources to boost its socio-economic development.

Chairman Quan affirmed that the central government has given many favorable conditions including an increased decentralization to help the city boost its development.

However, the efficiency of the social and economic management and development has yet to meet expectations, since the current administration model has exposed many weaknesses, failing to meet the city’s needs for development and management in the long run.

Therefore, since 2007, after getting permission from the Politburo, HCMC began to prepare a project for a new model under which the city will be re-organized to have four satellite cities revolving around a central area that is comprised of 13 districts.

The 13 districts are Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, and Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, Go Vap, Tan Binh and Tan Phu Districts; and the four cities will be the East, West, South and North.

The East City will comprise Districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc District; the West City will consist of the entire Binh Tan District, a part of District 8 and a part of Binh Chanh District; the South City will include District 7, Nha Be District, a part of District 8; and the North City will comprise District 12 and Hoc Mon District.

Such an urban administration model will meet the city’s needs of development and contribute to the country’s administrative reforms, Quan said.

Speaking at the conference, deputy PM Phuc said the building a new model for HCMC is appropriate as the city is a special urban area that has an important position in the southern region and the country in general.

The project has been built based on 17 legal foundations adopted by the central government and the city authorities, Phuc added.

He said that after the conference, the government will have a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to review the project before referring it to the Politburo for consideration on March 13, 2014.

After that, the project will be submitted to the National Assembly for approval.