Many individuals and organisations in Hanoi are unsatisfied with the working attitude of state officers
The Agitation Department of Hanoi’s municipal Party Committee has recently conducted a survey on administrative reform at five state departments, including natural resources and environment, construction, architecture planning, planning and investment, and finance.
The results showed that red tape was still common and the supposedly quick one-stop service faced the most criticism.
The negative practice rate at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment was the highest, at 7.6%; followed by Department of Architecture Planning with 6.3%, Department of Planning and Investment with 4.7%, Department of Construction with 4.3%, and Department of Finance with 2.7%.
Most of questioned people were unsatisfied with the attitude of state officers at these state agencies. The Department of Finance gained the most satisfaction, at over 26% while the Department of Natural Resources and Environment got the lowest at over 11%.
Leaders of the Department of Finance were recognised to be most active in taking administrative reform measures, gaining 28% voting while the leaders of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment received the lowest voting at more than 16%.
The municipal Party Committee’s Secretary Pham Quang Nghi said at a recent city’s regular meeting that the survey was conducted in June 2012. They found that 93% of state officers possessed good professional skills but only 52.4% of them were regarded as being enthusiastic about their work.
Hanoi's Party Committee’s Secretary Pham Quang Nghi being interviewed by local journalists at a recent NA's meeting
Solutions needed
According to Nghi, state agencies in the city needed to take more drastic measures to improve the efficiency of administrative reforms as well as clear away barriers to the development process.
“Municipal authorities are required to do more so as to mitigate bureaucracy, improve attitudes at work and renovate current administrative mechanisms,” he noted.
He said that the current bureaucracy was a result of the fact that state officers dare not to take responsibility to deal with pending work but opted to wait for others to process.
“Many enterprises that want to hasten the process have opted to pay “lubricant” fees. However, only a few of them have gained favour amid overcrowding, resulting in wider dissatisfaction,” he explained.
In order to deal with the problems, it’s necessary to work out measures to discourage the offering and payment of bribes. Strict punishments should be applied to any case of found wrongdoings as well, he added.
Nguyen Hoang Son, head from the municipal Agitation Department, said the survey focused on administrative reforms at five sensitive sectors. The move was aimed to clarify the cause of the current inadequacies so as to find out the best solutions to improve the city’s competitiveness.
“The survey was expected to improve awareness of those who are working at such state agencies and encourage them to take action to improve the situation,” he noted.
