Hanoi pursues modern governance model

Hanoi through the pilot of the centralized Public Administration Service Center has made strides in improving key administrative indicators, enhancing the investment and business environment, boosting competitiveness, and fostering development.

These efforts help Hanoi advance alongside the nation into a transformative era.

People remain at the center of state governance. Photo: The Hanoi Times

To facilitate services for citizens and businesses, Hanoi continues to restructure its administrative centers to simplify procedures, use more digitized data, and enhance data sharing. Following the principle of "one task, one process; one submission," the aim is to make it convenient for citizens and businesses to access online public services.

On October 24, the Hanoi People's Committee established the Public Administration Service Center, which is a new provincial-level administrative unit directly under the city government and represents an unprecedented model based on lessons learned from previously implemented administrative models.

According to the project, the center will operate through the city's administrative procedure information system, connected to the National Public Service Portal, national databases, sector-specific databases, and shared infrastructure. The center will collect applications for administrative procedures submitted from anywhere in Hanoi, streamline the "one-stop shop" system, and innovate methods for handling procedures. It will ensure that citizens can access public services within a 30-minute travel radius or a maximum distance of 5 kilometers, with services available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The center builds on the successes of the "one-stop" and "interlinked one-stop" mechanisms for administrative procedures. It will reorganize the 677 one-stop units citywide to ensure streamlined, efficient, professional, and modern operations. The model emphasizes decentralization at the district level, shifting the focus to the localities and allowing for optimal delegation of administrative procedures.

At the same time, the center addresses the limitations of traditional one-stop shops, resolves bottlenecks in key areas like land, investment, planning, and construction, and alleviates issues that negatively impact the business environment and Hanoi's development indices.

Since October 10, 2023, Hoan Kiem District has piloted three ward-level public administration service centers: Center No. 01 in Tran Hung Dao, Center No. 02 in Hang Ma Ward, and Center No. 03 in Chuong Duong Ward.

These centers demonstrated the effectiveness of the model. According to Cu Ngoc Trang, Director of the Hanoi Public Administration Service Center, future efforts will focus on organizational improvements, technological advancements, and leveraging experts and researchers. Starting February 1, 2025, the center plans to pilot handling administrative procedures under the jurisdiction of city departments and agencies.

The center also aims to establish 30 branches, inheriting and reorganizing resources from district-level one-stop shops. These branches will directly handle certain procedures currently assigned to commune-level staff. The goal is to enhance service quality, with at least 95% citizen satisfaction and 100% transparency in the processing and resolution of administrative procedures, allowing for monitoring and evaluation by organizations and individuals.

The establishment and operation of the Hanoi Public Administration Service Center mark significant progress in administrative reform and embodies the city's "long-term vision, creative thinking, and smart solutions" in building a digital government that serves citizens and businesses.