A file photo taken at the Chi Minh City’s Department of Planning and Investment.

Vietnam’s government is asking for help from the public to streamline administrative procedures to save money.

At present, 5,500 administration procedures are effective at offices of state, city/provincial, district and commune levels. They generate 82,786 forms and are ruled by 7,641 documents, according to figures compiled during stage one of Project No.30 which aims to simplify administrative procedures between 2007-2010.

Phuc said, “It’s the first time that we have done a complete inventory of Vietnam’s administration procedures.”

As part of the project’s first stage all the forms will be printed and placed at every commune in the country and in a national data base for the public to read and give feedback, he said, adding that the database would go online next month, 14 months ahead of schedule.

It will be constantly updated until the project ends, he said

State agencies nationwide are required to finish publishing their sets of paperwork this month and provide instructions for residents to perform the procedures.

The government office chairman said that state-run newspapers would be required to reserve space for the public and businesses to give feedback and voice their opinions about administrative procedures.

Informing the public about their rights and obligations in relation to each procedure would help protect them from being cheated by officials, for example protect them from paying a fee when it is not legally required, he said.

The second stage of the project aims to reduce and simplify administration procedures wherever possible. The prime minister has ordered that the number be reduced by about a third.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry uses 200 sets of procedures while the Finance Ministry has 840 administration procedures, 330 concerning taxation and 239 customs service.

Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said such red tape costs time and costs businesses valuable opportunities.

For example, a firm wanting to exploit minerals has to consult defense and tourism agencies, then get approval from the commune government, which must ask the district government to agree. The district will then have to send a note to the province Department of Natural Resources and Environment, which will send experts to check the area before suggesting that the province government grant the approval or not.

In many cases, the province government has to consult the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment before doing that.

The whole process takes about one year, unless the firm speeds it up with bribes, VCCI said.

Nguyen Dinh Cung, deputy head of the Central Institute for Economy Management, told Tuoi Tre newspaper the elimination of unreasonable procedures would be good for the economy, reducing costs for business and improving the trade environment.

Cung cited an example that South Korea after the finance crisis in 1997- 1998 cut 30-50 percent of its red tape, only to save billions of dollars and create more than a million jobs.

Phuc said he was confident that the reforms would help contain corruption, save money for the residents and boost investment. “A large sum of money will be saved, we just have to wait and see how much.”

When Hanoi extended last August to include Ha Tay Province and parts of Hoa Binh Province, 2.5 million new residents of the capital were allowed to continue to use their ID cards until the expiry date instead of changing them right away. That saved them more than VND12 billion (US$673,600), the online newspaper VietNamNet said Wednesday.

Phuc said, however, that simplifying and reducing procedures would not be enough if state officers continued to make it difficult for residents. “The reforms should also include changes to the manner of state officers.”

Opinions or reports about such officers and complicated procedures can be shared on www.thutuchanhchinh.vn, the website for admin reformation.

Source: TN, TT