On the afternoon of April 18, the Standing Committee of Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee and the Standing Committee of Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee held a conference to implement the Central Government's policy on merging provincial-level administrative units.

Comrade Nguyen Dinh Trung - Secretary of Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee and Comrade Cao Thi Hoa An - Secretary of Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee co-chaired the conference.

Also attending the Conference were comrade Do Nhu Thang, Deputy Head of Department of Localities 2, Central Organizing Committee; comrades in the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Provincial People's Committee, leaders of Departments and branches of Dak Lak and Phu Yen provinces.

Scene of the working session between the Standing Committees of the Provincial Party Committees of Phu Yen and Dak Lak provinces.

The conference approved the Decision to establish an Inter-provincial Coordination Team to develop and implement the Project on administrative unit arrangement of Dak Lak and Phu Yen provinces, consisting of 42 members, with Mr. Nguyen Tuan Ha, Permanent Vice Chairman of Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee, as Team Leader; Mr. Dao My, Vice Chairman of Phu Yen Provincial People's Committee, as Permanent Deputy Team Leader.

Comrade Nguyen Dinh Trung - Secretary of Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee spoke at the conference

The inter-provincial coordination group is responsible for advising the People's Committees of Dak Lak and Phu Yen provinces to implement the Plan for implementing the arrangement of administrative units and building a model for organizing two-level local governments; advising on the organization of the apparatus, civil servants and public employees when implementing the arrangement and issues related to the arrangement of administrative units and organizing two-level local governments into operation. The roadmap for developing the project for arranging provincial-level administrative units of Phu Yen and Dak Lak provinces is to be completed by April 20 and submitted to the Government by April 29.

Comrade Cao Thi Hoa An - Secretary of Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee spoke at the conference

The conference reviewed and commented on the Draft Project on the arrangement of provincial administrative units, including 4 parts: Political and legal basis and the necessity of arranging and merging provincial administrative units; history of formation and current status of provincial administrative units; plan for arranging provincial administrative units; impact assessment and implementation organization;

It is expected that after the merger of Dak Lak and Phu Yen provinces, Dak Lak province will have an area of ​​1,809.640 km2 (226.20% of the standard), a population of 3,339,616 people (371.07% of the standard), and 101 administrative units (Dak Lak province has 67 units, Phu Yen province has 34 units). The administrative and political center of Dak Lak province is located in the center of Dak Lak province today.

The authorities focused on discussing and giving opinions on the following issues: Regulations on principles and orientations for the arrangement of the apparatus and personnel in the political system; operations of the Provincial Industrial Park Management Board and the Economic Zone Management Board (since they are currently established by the Prime Minister); Plans for housing arrangement for officials, civil servants and public employees when merging provinces; Plans for arrangement and roadmap for handling headquarters and public assets after the arrangement of provincial administrative units; Functions, tasks and staffing of agencies under the district-level government will be transferred to the commune level for implementation according to regulations; arrangement of educational public service units and medical public service units; orientations for public service units with autonomy in regular expenditures; unit names...

Comrade Nguyen Tuan Ha - Permanent Vice Chairman of Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Inter-provincial Coordination Team reported on the progress and coordination work to develop a project to rearrange provincial administrative units.

The Standing Committees of the Provincial Party Committees of the two provinces also discussed the coordination work in preparing and drafting documents for the Provincial Party Congress for the 2025-2030 term; digital transformation work associated with the arrangement and merger of provinces and some other related contents...

Also at this working session, the leaders of the two provinces discussed and exchanged investment plans to upgrade National Highway 29 connecting Dak Lak and Phu Yen provinces. National Highway 29 is the main national highway in the Central and Central Highlands regions, with a length of about 293km, starting at Vung Ro port (Phu Yen), ending at Dak Rue border gate (Dak Lak). This is the route connecting the Central Coast region (Phu Yen) with the Central Highlands (Dak Lak), connecting the Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam development triangle area. The current status of this national highway has many narrow sections, which have been invested for a long time, so they have degraded, while the traffic volume on the route is increasing... At the working session, the two provinces agreed to jointly propose investment in upgrading and expanding this national highway, with a total length of about 147km, investment scale of grade III road, 4 lanes, roadbed width of about 20.5m.

Comrade Ta Anh Tuan - Chairman of Phu Yen Provincial People's Committee gave his opinion at the conference.

Discussing at the meeting, Secretary of Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee Cao Thi Hoa An raised the issue of naming new agencies and units in the merger. In addition to the central criteria, the two provinces should also continue to study carefully, with inheritance and local characteristics. Some agencies and units with specific work such as the Department of Fisheries... need to consider the issue of whether cadres, civil servants and public employees should go to Dak Lak to work. Regarding where to locate the headquarters, in addition to the main headquarters in Dak Lak, it is also necessary to consider sub-headquarters in Phu Yen if suitable for the work.

The Standing Committee of Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee presented gifts to the Standing Committee of Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee.

Dak Lak Provincial Party Standing Committee presents gifts to Phu Yen Provincial Party Standing Committee

Delegates take souvenir photos

Speaking at the conference, Comrade Nguyen Dinh Trung - Secretary of Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee highly appreciated the comments of delegates and functional agencies to complete the Draft Project on the arrangement of provincial administrative units to submit to the Central Government for consideration and approval. He requested the Departments of Home Affairs of the two provinces to continue to coordinate in reviewing and supplementing the issues agreed upon at the meeting, and the construction plan in an open direction, meeting the practical needs of management according to the 2-level government model, creating favorable conditions for the people; continue to closely follow the Central direction to study the orientation of the activities of educational public service units and medical public service units, and public service units with autonomy in regular expenditures to study in an open direction; seek public opinions on core issues regarding the policy of merging provincial administrative units.

Regarding the work of arranging the organization and personnel in the political system, the Organizing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee of the two provinces is assigned to properly implement the procedures and principles... and continue to advise the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee of the two provinces to make decisions.