Nguyen Ngoc Hua, a retired former commune leader, strongly supported the policy on eliminating the intermediate district level, stating that communal agencies can handle everything, and not only can they do it, but they also can do it accurately and correctly because local cadres know all the things that occur in their communes.

Quality of commune-level civil servants needs improvement

While acknowledging the abolition of the district level as a wise policy, reader Quang Vu raised concerns.

"The capacity, qualifications, and especially the attitude of some commune-level cadres are very poor. If they are not carefully selected, this will hinder the country’s development," he warned.

Sharing the same view, a reader from the email Nguyenthehong***gmail.com commented: "In my opinion, the professional skills and legal knowledge of commune-level civil servants regarding their assigned tasks are still very limited. I communicated with them many times and wasn’t adequately guided on specific matters they were responsible for.”

“I strongly support the idea of eliminating the intermediate level and enhancing administrative reform, but I’m very worried about the capacity and qualifications of grassroots cadres," he added.

Reader Tuan Anh posed a hypothetical scenario: if districts are abolished, most district-level tasks would be allocated to communes. However, the majority (though not all) of commune-level cadres lack the professional capacity to meet the demands of their assigned work, with some even having "patchwork" skills and expertise.

Anh stressed that workforce qualification is always the most important factor that determines the success of all plans, so it is necessary to design reasonable personnel solutions to be sure that communal officers can undertake tasks assigned to them, once district-level officers leave.

San Luong, also a VietNamNet reader, commented that while considering abolishing district-level units, it is necessary to think about how to improve the capability of communal officers at the same time.

“We have to select capable, honest, and competent cadres, and eliminate bad officers. Only if we can do this will the nation grow strong and be able to walk abreast powerful nations in the world as President Ho Chi Minh instructed,” he wrote.

Vuongtuthanh1508 commented that people have reasons to worry about the qualification of communal officers. 

“The requirements set to recruit officers for communal units are lower,” he explained. “Now the requirements need to be higher because of the changes in the nature of work."

Thanhxd also pointed out that the current qualification of commune officers still cannot satisfy the requirements.

“There are many district-level units that only use cadres with higher education level, while most communal officers just finish high school. Some of them who have bachelor’s degrees but just finished in-service training or distance learning courses are believed to have lower quality than full-time university graduates.

“If districts are abolished, the scale and qualifications of commune-level civil servants need to improve, which might not help streamline the apparatus. The Party and State need to both eliminate the intermediate level and merge communes to streamline all government levels, reducing operational costs," he commented.

Hopes put on new policy 

Many readers expressed confidence that abolishing the intermediate district level would create a more open and efficient management environment, offering broader space for economic and social development.

Reader Tu Le affirmed: "The Party and State have made a wise decision to merge and streamline the system. This truly benefits the country and people."

She believes that people will benefit from the elimination of district level, because things will be put under the management of communal units, which are nearer to people and, therefore, better understand people.

Xuan Truong, who introduced himself as an office worker, while showing his agreement on streamlining the state apparatus, suggested that the district-level cut should be done immediately like the restructuring of ministries and branches recently. He hopes that just after two months, the new apparatus will become operational.

Reader Tdvuongxuan noted: "A three-tier management system – central government - province/city - commune/ward is reasonable. However, communes and wards need to be merged and reorganized, because it is not feasible that one province controls hundreds of communes.”

Nguyen Van Tuan, a taxi driver, suggested that four to six communes or wards should be merged into one new commune when districts are eliminated. 

“The new commune needs multiple offices to handle administrative procedures for people and businesses," Tuan suggested.

Ly Dao