Hanoi aims for 100% borderless public services by late 2025

THE HANOI TIMES — Hanoi plans to complete full access to borderless public services across the city by the end of 2025, Cu Ngoc Trang, Director of the Hanoi Public Administration Service Center, said last week.

According to Trang, borderless public services are a top Government priority, but challenges remain. Currently deployed at 32 points under the center, the services have not yet expanded to communes and wards.

“This is because these services remain tied to local boundaries and lack a unified coordination mechanism for all 126 communes and wards,” said Trang.

"Once the one-tier center model is fully operational, Hanoi expects to roll out 100% of borderless administrative services by year-end," said Trang. From 2026 onwards, the city plans to pilot cross-boundary services beyond Hanoi for the first time.

Administrative procedures for residents and businesses remain a bottleneck despite the city’s recent efforts to reform and the significant improvement in service indicators.

Hanoi has published many procedures eligible for end-to-end online processing and adopted various support measures, but actual online submissions account for only 18.55%, far below the Government’s target of 70%.

According to Trang, the main reason is the heavy pre-verification requirement in sectoral laws. Many procedures still require original documents or certified copies, which makes online processing incomplete and creates a mix of online and in-person steps. Unclear rules on eForm digital signatures mean residents often assume every procedure needs a signature, even though few hold digital signatures.

To address these issues, the center proposes moving half of all eligible online procedures to post-verification and letting residents take responsibility for submitted documents without certified copies. It also recommends a list of procedures exempt from eForm signatures and accepting VNeID-based authentication to simplify the process.

For procedures still requiring signatures, Trang suggests integrating a digital signing solution into VNeID.

He also recommends recognizing digital copies issued by authentication systems and allowing automatic issuance of certified digital copies, replacing traditional certified copies for online services.

“The goal is that no residents need to visit offices for procedures eligible for full online processing, along with a new metric on the share of self-service to measure actual user autonomy and reduce cases of proxy filing,” he noted.

iHanoi – Hanoi’s central digital citizen platform

After 17 months of operation, the platform has nearly six million users, an average of 450,000 daily visits and about 900,000 received feedback and requests, making it the most successful digital citizen platform in the country.

iHanoi has evolved from a feedback app into a multi-domain ecosystem covering administrative services, education, health care, transport and science and technology.

It has become an official community network with neighborhood and residential group chat rooms and features for the Fatherland Front and related organizations.

iHanoi also supports Hanoi Police in cleaning vehicle registration and driver license data through image scanning and automatic matching, saving more than VND40 billion (US$1.60 million) and shortening processing time by around 30 days.

According to Trang, iHanoi should be redefined and developed into a super app that moves beyond an administrative tool to become a digital living platform for residents.

“The aim is to allow residents and businesses to create their own utilities on the platform, with AI acting as the core engine that analyzes data to help the city make more practical decisions,” he added.

Trang stressed that every reform only becomes meaningful when residents feel the change. He suggested that the city adopt a breakthrough theme focused on digital service delivery and building a political system that truly serves the public.

“This is the path that will help Hanoi become a model city for smart governance where residents are served faster, more conveniently and with a higher level of satisfaction,” he stressed.