Improving the performance of commune-level People's Councils
Chairman of the Hai Phong People's Council Le Van Hieu has called on commune-level People's Councils to improve the quality of supervision, promptly address bottlenecks and resolve voters' petitions.
Le Van Hieu, Deputy Secretary of the Hai Phong Party Committee and Chairman of the City People's Council, presided over a meeting between the Council’s Standing Board with leaders of commune-level People's Councils on the afternoon of November 11.
At the meeting, Party Committee secretaries and People's Council chairpersons from communes, wards and special zones raised a lot of specific difficulties and proposals. Two main groups of issues attracting considerable attention were budget allocation, public investment disbursement, natural resources and the environment; and difficulties in the operation of the two-tier local government model.
Many localities proposed increasing recurrent expenditure allocations and providing additional resources to commune-level authorities. Public investment should be focused and targeted, ensuring quality and high efficiency. Limitations remain in the areas of natural resources and the environment, particularly in the collection, transportation and treatment of household waste, as well as the quality of clean water in rural areas.
Leaders of the City People's Committee and relevant departments and agencies provided explanations regarding the issues raised by the local authorities right at the meeting.
In the coming period, the Standing Board of the City People's Council and commune authorities will continue to strengthen supervision and work alongside for the City People's Committee to promptly resolve bottlenecks as an important foundation for successfully fulfilling socio-economic development tasks and improving residents' living standards.
In his concluding remarks, Chairman of the City People's Council Le Van Hieu acknowledged the proposals and said the Council’s Standing Board would consider holding regular coordination meetings with leaders of commune-level People's Councils. It would also reform its methods of receiving feedback to ensure that all local proposals and concerns submitted to the city authorities are heard and addressed, with the aim of gradually improving the quality, authority and effectiveness of the operations of both municipal and commune-level People's Councils.
Regarding supervision, commune-level People's Councils must continue to reform their approaches to improve quality, applying workshops and discussions to jointly develop solutions to problems arising at the grassroots level.
Highlighting key tasks for commune-level People's Council leaders in the coming period, Chairman of the City People's Council Le Van Hieu called for reforms in working methods, with clear assignments of responsibility and deadlines, as well as clear identification of causes and solutions whenever problems arise.
He also urged local authorities to focus on planning at the commune level, pay attention to the development of agriculture and aquaculture areas, and prioritize land for education to meet growing future demand. They should also reserve land for green spaces and grassroots cultural facilities, creating venues for community activities and promoting mass participation in sports.
Acknowledging the heavy workload and pressure following the administrative merger, Hieu called on sectors and local authorities to address voters' legitimate petitions and improve the quality of administrative services.
He expressed his hope that every elected representative and leader of a local elected body would consistently listen to voters, pay attention to resolving their petitions, convey their concerns to competent authorities and maintain supervision until the issues are resolved. These efforts would gradually improve the substantial effectiveness of the operations of municipal and commune-level People's Councils.
PHONG TUYET