Turtle Tower in the middle of Hoan Kiem Lake (Source: Vietnam+) Hanoi (VNA) - Despite its historical significance, the existence of Hoan Kiem district itself is recently being questioned. Many experts voiced their opinion on the matter, with most of them against the merger.
Hoan Kiem District, named after the myth of King Le Thai To (Le Loi) who returned a mythical sword to the turtle deity that lives under Hoan Kiem Lake, is perhaps one of Hanoi's most historical areas.
Despite its historical significance, the existence of Hoan Kiem District itself is recently being reconsidered.
Hoan Kiem, along with 176 wards in Hanoi, might be rearranged within the next two years, according to Tran Sy Thanh, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee at a conference on the implementation of rearranging administrative units held on July 31.
For Hoan Kiem, "rearranging" would mean a merger with nearby districts, which includes Ba Dinh, Hai Ba Trung, Dong Da, or even Long Bien across the Red River, and could possibly mean that the historical name will be lost.
Hanoi Opera House in Hoan Kiem district (Source: Vietnam+) The reasoning behind the possible merger is simple: the district is too small compared to the minimum requirements for a district, which were stated in Clause 7 of Resolution No.1211/2016/UBTVQH13 issued by the National Assembly Standing Committee.
The clause stated that a district-level administrative unit must be as large as 35 sq.km, have a population of 150,000 people or more, and house at least 12 ward-level administrative units.
Hoan Kiem currently qualified for two out of three criteria, but the district is only 5.29 sq.km large, which is seven times under the requirements of Clause 7.
After the information surfaced, many experts voiced their opinion on the matter, with most of them against the merger.
Hoan Kiem District, named after the myth of King Le Thai To (Le Loi) who returned a mythical sword to the turtle deity that lives under Hoan Kiem Lake, is perhaps one of Hanoi's most historical areas. (Source: Vietnam+) Architect Dao Ngoc Nghiem, Deputy Chairman of Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association (VUPDA) said Hoan Kiem is the central district of the capital city, bearing significant historical and cultural values that have been developed over many centuries. Therefore, despite falling short in the area criterion, it should not be used as a decisive factor, Nghiem emphasised.
"With its cultural and historical traditions and the development process of the central district of the capital city, we need to consider carefully and should not let a single criterion or administrative decision diminish its cultural values and historical imprints," Nghiem stated.
Tran Ngoc Chinh, Chairman of VUPDA, also voiced his reasons against the merger of Hoan Kiem District.
According to Chinh, although the policy of administrative unit merger is reasonable, any merger of administrative units requires evaluation and consideration from various perspectives, especially when it comes to Hoan Kiem District, where the merger option needs to be approached with utmost caution.
According to Nguyen Huu Thanh, Deputy Director of the Local Government Office, Ministry of Home Affairs, the information presented by Chairman Tran Sy Thanh is just research data, and not a specific plan.
Thanh added that Hanoi must build a master plan for the merger of municipalities. When the plan is ratified, only then is it given the green light. At the moment, Hanoi is only reporting data, and has not made a decision.
According to Resolution No. 35 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the rearrangement of administrative units at the district and commune levels during the 2023-2030 period, the districts and communes that fall under the rearrangement category are not mandatory if they have any specific characteristics as prescribed.
Specifically, the administrative units at the district and commune levels with stable territorial boundaries that have not undergone any changes or adjustments since 1945 are not required to be merged.
Similarly, the administrative units that hold significant positions in terms of national defence and security or possess distinctive characteristics in terms of historical, cultural, ethnic, religious, belief, customs, and traditions, and if merging with adjacent administrative units would lead to instability in national defence, security, public order, and social safety, are also exempted from the mandatory merger./.
