Dong Thap streamlines the apparatus, creating a breakthrough after 1 year of operating a 2-level local government

The historic "big surgery" on the organizational structure

On May 29, the Dong Thap Provincial Party Committee held a conference to summarize 1 year of operation of the overall organizational model of the political system, the 2-level local government model in 2 forms: direct and online. Mr. Ngo Chi Cuong - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council chaired the conference. Also attending were the Standing Committee, Provincial Party Committee Executive Committee, leaders of agencies, departments, branches, communes and wards...

At the conference, Mr. Nguyen Van Muoi - Deputy Secretary of the Dong Thap Provincial Party Committee - gave a summary report on 1 year of operating the overall organizational model of the political system, the 2-level local government model. After the administrative boundaries merged, the population size jumped to more than 4.17 million people and an area of nearly 6,000 km2, Dong Thap has implemented an unprecedented restructuring of the apparatus to operate a 2-level government (provincial and commune level).

Notably, the removal of intermediate administrative levels, such as: Ending the operation of 23 district-level Party committees (11 of the old Tien Giang, 12 of the old Dong Thap), reducing 115 directly affiliated department-level units. Next is streamlining the grassroots level. 307 old commune, ward, and town Party committees have been terminated to establish 102 commune and ward Party committees directly under the Provincial Party Committee.

The Provincial Party Committee's report also shows that, not only mechanical cuts, Dong Thap operates a new apparatus with the "6 clear" principle (clear people, clear tasks, clear progress, clear responsibilities, clear authority, clear results). Inspection and supervision work is tightened by the Provincial Party Committee's Inspection Committee to ensure that the apparatus goes into a framework.

Specialized inspections, inspections of signs of violations and supervision have been carried out against hundreds of party organizations and thousands of party members. At the same time, boldly and strictly discipline violations (reprimands, warnings, dismissal, expulsion of many party members). In particular, the work of inspecting party finances, party fees and controlling income and assets was carried out drastically (controlling income and assets of 134 party members, detecting and strictly handling cases of dishonest declarations).

Identifying "bottlenecks" at the grassroots level

At the conference, the Provincial Party Committee also spent a lot of time listening to recommendations from the grassroots level. Through the speeches of representatives of localities, it shows that the 2-level local government model brings many practical benefits. Notably, smooth administrative procedures, no hot spots... have quickly created consensus among the people.

However, besides that, delegates also frankly acknowledged the arising challenges. Prominent is work pressure. The workload in communes and wards has increased sharply due to strong decentralization. Meanwhile, the capacity of officials is not uniform, lacks skills to handle multi-tasking tasks, and the technology infrastructure is not synchronized...

Mr. Nguyen Huu Loi - Provincial Party Committee Member, Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Council of Go Cong ward - said that the ward has made efforts to organize basic technology training courses for officials to apply and operate, but the existing machinery and equipment are not compatible...

On the other hand, the current preferential treatment regime is not commensurate with the level of dedication and the new workload. Mr. Phan Van Hop - Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Council of Hong Ngu ward - said about the lack of means for vertical agencies to come to the province to meet, especially the military and police forces. Knowing it is difficult, but the locality does not have resources to support....

Faced with those time-sensitive challenges, the Dong Thap Provincial Party Committee continues to call on all levels, sectors, and units to maximize the constructive spirit, proactively overcome all difficulties to successfully complete the set political tasks. Regarding bottlenecks in mechanisms, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee seriously acknowledges them to summarize data from practice, thereby continuing to propose to the Central Government to promptly remove policies. This is a solid basis to ensure that the "machine" of the 2-level local government of Dong Thap operates more smoothly, synchronously and sustainably in the future journey.

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