A draft State administrative reform plan has set a target of reducing the number of ministries and ministerial-level agencies to under 20 by 2015.

The number will be further reduced to 15 by 2020, according to the programme that was discussed at a seminar jointly held the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh province on October 12.

The draft aims to define clearly the functions of state administrative agencies in line with the socialist-oriented market mechanism, eliminating the overlapping in function among administrative agencies.

It also targets an annual 10-percent reduction of expenses that organisations and individuals have to pay for administrative procedures.

The one-stop-shop mechanism will be applied in all administrative agencies by 2013 and the rate of satisfaction with services provided by administrative agencies will reach 85 percent of users by 2015, said the programme.

Participants to the seminar, who came from 23 northern provinces and cities, spoke highly of administrative reform measures put forth by the MoHA. However, they said several objectives in the programme are not feasible such as the goal to have 100 percent of communal cadres receive training.

They also emphasised the lack of suitable salary reform as well as poor investment for the overall administrative reform programme.
Many delegates proposed the building of a supervision mechanism by people and businesses for state administrative agencies. There needs to be regulations on the responsibility of heads of administrative agencies as well as punishments when their staff commit any wrongdoing, they said.

Concluding the seminar, MoHA Deputy Minister Nguyen Tien Dinh said the ministry will continue to revise the draft, taking into account the opinions of local governments, sectors and ministries.

Source: VNA