Immediately after the merger of the three provinces of Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc and Hoa Binh into the new Phu Tho province, the provincial leaders have given strong directions to ensure the effective operation of the apparatus to serve the smooth operations of people and businesses.
Opening up broader development opportunities
At the first session of the new Phu Tho Provincial People's Council on July 1, Mr. Tran Duy Dong - Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee spoke to accept the task, affirming that he will join hands and unite to help the province effectively implement the policies of the province and the Central Government, build an increasingly strong, effective and efficient government system from the province to the grassroots level, and actively contribute to the overall development of Phu Tho province.
Mr. Dong emphasized: the merger of the three provinces of Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho and Hoa Binh has formed a unified administrative - economic - social entity on a larger scale; blending geographical space, history, culture, population and economic structure; integrating many driving forces, supplementing diverse potentials and resources for growth and development. The new Phu Tho province with open space, greater and more diverse advantages, bordering the most localities in the country, including the capital Hanoi; the transportation system is widely connected and expanded inter-regionally, the economic scale reaches more than 354 trillion VND, ranking 6th out of 34 provinces in the country, area of 9,361km2, ranking 15th in the country; population of over 4 million people, ranking 7th; budget revenue ranks 11th in the country...
Many new areas for development are opened up, creating more favorable conditions for building Phu Tho province into one of the centers of industry, services, logistics, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, original tourism, eco-tourism; a center for organizing national and international events; with a high economic growth rate; taking science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, and the private economy as the main driving force and resource for growth. However, after the merger, the administrative boundaries of the province are relatively large, the terrain is mainly mountainous and fragmented; the quality of growth and state budget revenue are not really sustainable; the private economic sector is still weak; the level of development and people's lives between regions are still different; infrastructure is still lacking synchronization; along with that, the complicated and unpredictable developments of the world economic and political situation, the general difficulties of the domestic economy, the adverse impacts of climate change, extreme weather, epidemics, etc. will be challenges for the implementation of the province's development goals in the coming time. The Chairman proposed solutions to effectively operate the 2-level local government model.
People come to handle procedures at the Phu Tho Ward Public Administration Service Center
Equip good infrastructure
At the meeting between the Chairman and Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Committee, Chairman Tran Duy Dong directed: urgently prepare infrastructure, equipment, readiness level, connectivity and effective operation of shared information systems including: Online conference system, Document management and operation system; Information system for handling administrative procedures to detect difficulties and problems to have timely solutions and put into official operation from July 1, 2025.
The Provincial People's Committee Office informed: the organization and operation of the Commune-level Public Administration Service Center; difficulties and problems in the process of handling administrative procedures after implementing the 2-level local government. Accordingly, to ensure the smooth operation of the administrative procedure settlement information system according to the 2-level local government model from the first day of merging the 3 provinces, the Provincial People's Committee has urgently prepared infrastructure, equipment, readiness, connectivity and effective operation of shared information systems including: Online conference system, Document management and operation system; Administrative procedure settlement information system to detect difficulties and problems in order to have timely solutions and put them into official operation from July 1, 2025.
Basically, the systems have been formed and operated, and a trial operation was conducted on the morning of June 29, 2025. The Provincial People's Committee Office has continuously updated the decisions of the Central Ministries and branches, proactively urged and coordinated with the Provincial Departments and branches to submit to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee to promulgate administrative procedures applied in the locality.
Currently, the Public Administration Service Centers of Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, and Hoa Binh provinces (old) are still operating stably and are kept at their old locations to receive and return results to citizens in each area. Communes have Public Administration Service Centers. 148/148 communes have arranged enough staff and civil servants to work at the Public Administration Service Centers; in which, communes have arranged civil servants from functional departments to come to the Center to receive documents and return results. By June 30, 2025, VNPT has basically configured the Administrative Procedure Processing Information System of Phu Tho province (new) and deployed it from July 1, 2025; designed suitable functions to facilitate organizations and individuals to submit documents online and civil servants to process. In addition, the Administrative Procedures Information System of Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc provinces (old) is still maintained to look up and process unfinished files, files that need to be edited, etc.
Regarding the transmission line, up to now, VNPT and Viettel Phu Tho have upgraded the Internet capacity, basically ensuring smooth system transmission. Regarding the announcement and publicization of administrative procedures: The total number of administrative procedures before the merger was 1,879 procedures; of which, 1,495 procedures were under the jurisdiction of the provincial level; 268 procedures were under the jurisdiction of the district level; 116 procedures were under the jurisdiction of the commune level. The total number of administrative procedures after the merger was 2,217 procedures, of which: 1,812 procedures were under the jurisdiction of the provincial level; 405 procedures were under the jurisdiction of the commune level.
Up to now, 36 Decisions have been issued to announce the list of administrative procedures that are decentralized and delegated according to 28 Decrees of the Government, with 1,490 procedures applied in the province, ensuring 100% completion of the Decisions announced by the Central Ministries and branches. In the process of handling administrative procedures after implementing the 2-level local government, there are still some difficulties and problems such as: Many commune-level areas in remote areas still face many difficulties; the equipment has been completed but the quality is not guaranteed; Most civil servants are assigned from the commune level up, so their level of information technology use is still low, the use of the Information System for handling administrative procedures is still limited...
Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Tran Duy Dong assigned the Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Committee, based on their areas of responsibility, to continue to focus on directing the good implementation of tasks, ensuring the leadership and direction of the Phu Tho Provincial People's Committee is smooth and effective, creating conditions for all activities of people and businesses to be smooth and effective.
By Hien Nam, Vietnam Business Forum
Vietnamese
