Official: Level of satisfaction with administrative reform remains low

Many administrative procedures remain complicated (Illustrative photo)

At a meeting on Tuesday, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly (NA) pointed out achievements and failures in its report on implementing public administrative reform.

NA’s Legal Committee Chairman, Nguyen Van Thuan, said that the execution of the administrative reform has made positive changes over the last 10 years, especially with Project 30 for administrative reform, which has been carried out since July 2008. This has been done in accordance to the direction of the Prime Minister in addition to the support and determination of ministries, agencies as well as active participation of people and enterprises.

Phung Quoc Hien, Chairman of the NA’s Committee of Financial and Budget Affairs, said that Vietnam had simplified 5,000 administrative procedures. This achievement has helped save costs and time for civilians and enterprises.

In terms of tax collection and management, Hien stated that Vietnam had made impressive improvements, particularly in modernising taxation and customs.

However, Thuan added that these accomplishments still have not met the goals set-forth. Administrative procedures in some fields and steps remain complicated. The progress of reform is still slow. In comparison with other countries in the region, Vietnamese administrative procedures are considered to be at an under average level, even in terms of taxation and customs which are sectors gaining certain improvements.

Administrative procedures in fields of land, accommodations and house construction remain complex, inconvenient and lack transparency and publicity.

The delay in processing procedures, imperiousness, and harassment for bribes are among the major issues. “These are one of main reasons leading to the low level of satisfaction with the administrative reform among civilians and enterprises,” highlighted Thuan.

According to Thuan, administrative reform in many localities still faces disadvantages and limits although they have prepared programmes and plans. Often, administrative procedures remain troublesome and overlapping.

“On-the-spot, one stop shop” or “one door–one stamp” mechanism in some localities has not been followed in a proper manner. In fact, public administrative offices are just places receiving and returning applications and documents related to administrative procedures. They cannot process these documents by themselves without transferring them to relevant departments, thus consuming a lot of time.

Hien added that he did not expect the administrative reform could be immediately undertaken because existing limits regarding administrative procedures depend on so many factors.

Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chairman of the Office of the Government, recommended a solution to save VND30 trillion ($1,528,200,000) each year by reducing over 4,000 administrative procedures. In order to meet this goal, the National Assembly needs to include it in the last session of 12th National Assembly through amending 48 laws and 12 legal regulations.

Nevertheless, the People's Aspiration Committee Chairman, Tran The Vuong, is worried that it would not be easy to amend laws like this in only one assembly session. Moreover, Vuong added it’s necessary to clarify how much money out of the VND30 trillion can be saved for administrative activities and labour costs. “Will the country be able to save VND5-7 trillion ($254,699,000-356,579,000)?” wondered Vuong.