Hanoi to approve new mayor this week

The Hanoi People’s Council will hold an extraordinary meeting on Friday [September 25] to appoint the new chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee for the ongoing term 2016-2021, local media cited municipal officials as saying.

Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Chu Ngoc Anh. Photo: Gia Han

The meeting will focus solely on personnel issue that includes dismissing Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung who is in a four-month custody for investigations of some criminal cases, and appointing his replacement.

Mr. Chung has been suspended from all duties in Hanoi’s political system since August 11 due to his involvement in some criminal cases, including misappropriation of state secret documents, smuggling and money laundering.

Candidate for the post is Chu Ngoc Anh, 55, who was appointed to deputy secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee on September 18 by the Politburo, the country’s most powerful body.

Head of the Central Organization Commission Pham Minh Chinh said the appointment of Chu Ngoc Anh is “a thorough and unanimous decision” by the Politburo.

At present, Mr. Chu Ngoc Anh remains Minister of Science and Technology until being discharged by the National Assembly in the next plenum that is set to convene late in October.

The Hanoi People’s Committee is run by a chairperson and six deputies. The chairman is empowered to oversee the whole administration, focusing on the planning of the city’s socio-economic issues; administration reforms, personnel issues; the city’s master planning on urban development, land management, and construction of major projects.

The chairperson is tasked to supervise the operations of the People’s Committee Office, the Capital Military High Command, the Departments of Police, Home Affairs, External Affairs, Planning and Investment, Planning and Architecture, the Statistics Office, Institute for Socio-economic Development, and the two most densely populated districts of Hoan Kiem and Hai Ba Trung.