(BNP) - On the afternoon of May 4, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Pham Hoang Son chaired a conference to review criteria and build the Scheme for establishing Bac Ninh as a centrally-governed city.
Overview of the conference.
Attending the conference were Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee and Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Mai Son and leaders of relevant departments, boards, and sectors.
At the conference, representatives of the Department of Home Affairs presented a summary report of the Outline for the Scheme to establish Bac Ninh as a centrally-governed city. The Scheme was developed based on the Law on Local Government Organization and Resolution No. 112/2025 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on standards for administrative units. The dossier included all required components such as the Proposal, the Scheme, a summary report of public opinion, and the draft Resolution of the National Assembly.
According to the draft, the Scheme was structured into 5 parts, clarifying the legal, political, and practical grounds for establishing a centrally-governed city; ensuring alignment with planning, national interests, socio-economic development requirements, national defense, security, and the improvement of state management effectiveness while creating convenience for citizens.
The representative of the Department of Home Affairs reports a summary of the outline for the Scheme to establish Bac Ninh as a centrally-governed city at the conference.
Regarding the current status, Bac Ninh province was assessed to fully meet the prescribed conditions. The locality had achieved 7/7 standards for a centrally-governed city according to Resolution No. 112/2025/UBTVQH15, with a population of nearly 4 million people, a natural area of over 4,700 km², an urbanization rate of over 55%, and a percentage of wards reaching over 33%. Indicators regarding the structure and level of socio-economic development basically met requirements.
For Class-I urban standards, Bac Ninh currently met 13/15 criteria; two criteria requiring further completion involved the percentage of wards reaching Class-II urban development levels and the task of building new-style rural areas.
Regarding the plan, the Scheme proposed establishing Bac Ninh as a centrally-governed city based on the current status of Bac Ninh province; simultaneously, it was expected to establish 13 new wards from existing communes, raising the total number of commune-level administrative units to 99, including 46 wards and 53 communes.
The Scheme also comprehensively assessed the impact of becoming a centrally-governed city across socio-economic fields, state management, people's lives, urban infrastructure, environment, social security, and national defense and security; thereby determining development orientations consistent with the Provincial Party Congress Resolution and development programs and plans in the coming period.
Discussing at the conference, delegates focused on contributing ideas to complete the Scheme towards ensuring feasibility, synchronicity, and enhancing persuasiveness. The Scheme was basically complete but required further review and supplementation.
Regarding Class-I urban criteria, opinions reached a consensus on prioritizing the increase of the ratio of wards meeting Class-II standards; accordingly, it was neccessary for 6 more wards to meet the standards to satisfy requirements, rather than expanding the total number of wards. New-style rural criteria would continue to be reviewed and perfected for inclusion in the Scheme.
The content of building a smart city was identified as a highlight, with a proposal to implement a "digital twin" for the entire province, piloted in two central wards. Delegates also agreed to implement the Scheme and Class-I urban criteria in parallel; simultaneously proposing to hire consultants, complete reports, and carefully study the plan to establish more wards.
Regarding the new-style rural criteria for the 2026 - 2030 period, despite high requirements and large resources, the province would still proceed according to the roadmap while adding indicators on multi-dimensional poverty reduction and wastewater treatment and reuse.
Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Mai Son speaks at the conference.
Speaking at the conference, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Mai Son requested departments and sectors to unify the process and accelerate the progress of completing the dossier; research hiring professional consultants to improve the quality of documents, and complete reports to submit to the Central Government as early as next week. The working group agreed to review and remove unfeasible indicators, especially provincial-level new-style rural content, to avoid spreading resources too thin.
Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Pham Hoang Son delivers the concluding remarks.
Concluding the conference, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Pham Hoang Son requested high concentration and urgent completion of the Scheme dossier, ensuring progress, quality, and persuasiveness. If completed, Bac Ninh would become the 8th locality in the country to be a centrally-governed city.
The Chairman assigned Standing Vice Chairman Mai Son to directly lead the process, completing the proposal and report within the week; organizing a comprehensive review meeting, striving to submit to competent authorities at the beginning of the following week. Departments and sectors must coordinate closely and directly participate in drafting and editing content.
Emphasizing key factors, the Chairman requested that the dossier be elaborately built with strict arguments, highlighting the province's unique advantages, from economy, industry, and investment attraction to culture and identity. The data system must be standardized, unified, and accurate.
The content of the Scheme must closely follow Party resolutions and provincial planning orientations; clarifying goals and development directions after becoming a centrally-governed city to ensure synchronicity with the master plan.
Regarding the roadmap, it was necessary to simultaneously complete Class-I and Class-II urban criteria; the establishment of additional wards must be carefully reviewed, selecting units with good conditions to ensure feasibility. Criteria such as smart city and new-style rural areas would continue to be implemented, while applying flexibility to increase persuasiveness.
The Chairman also requested that after completing the dossier, it must be reported to the Provincial Party Standing Committee early; preparing all documents for appraisal. When positive signals were received, specialized consultants would be hired to complete the dossier according to the requirements of central ministries and sectors.
Affirming high determination, the Chairman requested agencies and units to focus maximum resources, coordinate closely, and build a complete and methodical dossier to create high consensus, contributing to realizing the goal of making Bac Ninh a centrally-governed city in the coming time./.
