Hanoi currently has 30 district-level administrative units and 579 commune-level administrative units. In the period 2023-2025, through review and comparison with criteria, Hanoi is expected to have 173 commune-level administrative units that need to be rearranged.
Many wards in Hanoi have small areas but dense populations. Photo: Huu Hung
The city has developed a comprehensive plan for rearranging district-level and commune-level administrative units, which has been submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs for unified approval. According to this plan, after the rearrangement, the city will maintain 30 district-level administrative units (including 17 districts, 12 urban districts, and 1 town) and is expected to reduce 70 commune-level administrative units, leaving only 509 units including 321 communes, 168 wards, and 20 townships.
According to the city’s plan, Dong Da district will reduce 2 wards, including merging Kham Thien and Trung Phung wards; merging Ngo Tu So with Khuong Thuong and Thinh Quang; merging Trung Tu with Phuong Lien and Kim Lien.
Ha Dong district will reduce 2 wards by merging Yet Kieu, Nguyen Trai, and Quang Trung into a new ward. Hai Ba Trung district will reduce 3 wards by merging Dong Nhan and Dong Mac, Quynh Loi with Bach Mai, Cau Den into Bach Khoa and Thanh Nhan.
Long Bien district will reduce 1 ward by merging Sai Dong into Phuc Dong and Phuc Loi. Thanh Xuan district will reduce 2 wards by merging Thanh Xuan Bac and Thanh Xuan Nam, Ha Dinh into Kim Giang.
Hanoi is expected to merge 25 wards
According to the rearrangement plan, Ba Vi district will merge 3 communes into 1 commune; Chuong My district will merge 4 communes into 2 communes; Dan Phuong district will merge 8 communes into 4 communes; Gia Lam district will merge 6 communes into 3 communes.
Explaining the fact that some administrative units are in need of restructuring but cannot be implemented in the next 2 years, the People’s Committee of Hanoi said that some administrative units, despite having small areas, have large populations. For example, Hoan Kiem district has a natural area of 5.35 km2 but a population of over 212,000; Dong Da district has a natural area of 9.94 km2 but a population of over 325,000…
Hanoi also mentioned the fact that most wards in the inner city, after the rearrangement, still do not meet the standards for natural area and population size as regulated. Meanwhile, due to many specific factors, it is not possible to merge other adjacent administrative units.
It is expected that this plan will be submitted to the Hanoi People’s Council for consideration and approval at the specialized session at the end of March 2024. After that, the city will complete the dossier to submit to the Government and the National Assembly’s Standing Committee.
