Hanoi gets urban governance experience

Flexible urban government organization

At a recent scientific seminar on the revision of the draft Capital Law, Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Hoang Anh from the University of Law, Vietnam National University, Hanoi said the city needs to restructure its government organizations, or clearly assign tasks and powers. In particular, it is necessary to organize a flexible government apparatus with distinction between the core city (the Capital) and the satellite city, with surrounding areas.

Urban government can be organized in different models - Photo: Vu Phuong Nhi

For example, in France, large cities are divided into small administrative components called “districts.” There are 20 districts in Paris, 16 others in Marseille and nine in Lyon. The districts are established to create a closer relationship between the government and the local residents. Each district has an elected council and a chairman.

However, the districts do not have legal status, but are considered only as “administrative components within a city.” Most of their organizational structure and powers are closely dependent on the city. “From that model, it can be seen that the organization of the Hanoi government in diverse ways is suitable for the self-governance of the city,” Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Hoang Anh said.

Building a lean local government apparatus

From the experience of some countries on the urban government model, experts and scientists believe that the Hanoi city government apparatus must be organized in a streamlined way, ensuring agility in urban management.

Sharing about this issue, Dr. Nguyen Toan Thang from the Hanoi Law University noted some of the following contents in building the capital’s government:

First, the government at each level, especially the city-level (the highest level) must be composed of two institutions: representative agency and administrative agency.

Second, the Hanoi city government apparatus must be organized in a streamlined way, ensuring agility in urban management. In developed countries, depending on the administrative zoning of each country, the urban government can be directly under the Central Government or directly under the provincial and city governments.

Third, as both a large city and a capital, Hanoi needs to be decentralized to have a higher scope of autonomy. In many countries, the term “self-governance” is often used for urban government. However, this term in Vietnam means autonomy and self-responsibility associated with decentralization. The State needs to mobilize resources and favorable conditions to ensure smooth implementation of the process.

Fourth, the leadership regime in the organization and operation of administrative agencies in Hanoi, which is the preferred regime for urban governments in other countries, should be promoted. The advantage of the regime is to make management decisions quickly and in a timely manner, at the same time defining direct responsibilities of the leaders. The regime is consistent with the function of the administrative agencies that execute laws and policies at localities.