Hà Nội announces restructuring plan for administrative units

A resident in Thượng Thanh Ward in Long Biên District gives his opinion about the administrative unit restructuring plan of Thượng Thanh Ward. VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

HÀ NỘI — The capital city of Hà Nội has announced its administrative unit restructuring plan, reducing the number of local-level administrative units from 526 communes and wards to just 126.

According to an official announcement released by the Hà Nội People’s Committee on April 20, the capital is now home to 12 central urban districts with 153 wards, accounting for over 42 per cent of the city’s population despite covering just 9% of its total area.

Under the restructuring option, Hoàn Kiếm district will be reduced from 18 wards to just two, with the planned names of Hoàn Kiếm and Cửa Nam, while Ba Đình district will merge 13 wards into three – Ba Đình, Ngọc Hà, and Giảng Võ.

Đống Đa district will shrink from 17 wards to five, Long Biên from 13 to four, Tây Hồ from eight to two, Cầu Giấy from eight to three, Hà Đông from 15 to five, Hoàng Mai from 14 to seven, Thanh Xuân from 11 to three, Bắc Từ Liêm from 13 to five, and Nam Từ Liêm from 10 to four.

A new administrative unit, Hồng Hà ward, is to be established with an area of 16.61 square kilometres and a population of approximately 126,000. This ward will be formed through the mergence of the entirety of Chương Dương and Phúc Tân wards (Hoàn Kiếm); Phúc Xá (Ba Đình); most of Nhật Tân, Tứ Liên, and Yên Phụ (Tây Hồ); Bạch Đằng and Thanh Lương (Hai Bà Trưng); as well as parts of Phú Thượng and Quảng An (Tây Hồ), and Ngọc Thụy and Bồ Đề (Long Biên).

Hà Nội also has 17 suburban districts and Sơn Tây township, which collectively span 91 per cent of its area and accommodate nearly 58 per cent of its residents. They comprise 373 wards, communes and commune-level towns. The plan will see Sơn Tây’s 13 sub-level administrative units cut to just three. — VNS