Tran Bien promotes administrative reform, improves quality of public services

After the administrative merger, Tran Bien Ward has a population of nearly 200,000, making it the most populous locality in the province.

A staff member of Tran Bien Ward Public Administration Service Center guides residents in carrying out administrative procedures. Photo: Ho Thao

Facing the requirements of managing a large area with a dense population and diverse characteristics of a central urban ward, the ward has focused on implementing many solutions, quickly stabilizing the organizational apparatus and ensuring the smooth operation of the two-tier local government model. As a result, it has left a clear mark in administrative reform, improving the quality of public services.

Synchronized solutions

Coming to Tran Bien Ward Public Administration Service Center to apply for a certificate of marital status, Nguyen Thi Thuy Trang, a resident of Tran Bien Ward, shared that as she was not yet familiar with online procedures, she initially felt confused. However, she was carefully and attentively guided step by step by the staff at the center, from the first stage to the completion of her dossier. As a result, the procedure became simpler and easier to understand, and next time she can do it herself and even guide others.

“This is the second time I have come here to carry out administrative procedures, and each time I feel the enthusiasm and friendliness of the staff,” Trang said, expressing her satisfaction.

Positive feedback from residents like Trang is not an isolated case, but clearly reflects improvements in administrative reform by Tran Bien Ward People’s Committee after officially operating under the two-tier local government model. In 2025, Tran Bien Ward People’s Committee ranked 7th among 95 commune-level administrative units in the province in the citizen service quality index (under Index Set 766). This result demonstrates strong determination and synchronized efforts in leadership, direction and implementation of administrative reform tasks at the local level.

According to Nguyen Kim Bich Huyen, Vice Chairwoman of the Ward People’s Committee and Director of the Public Administration Service Center, with the goal of building a modern, people-centered administration, in 2025, Tran Bien Ward implemented a wide range of synchronized measures, focusing on administrative procedure reform and achieving many notable results.

Specifically, in 2025, specialized divisions received 32,236 dossiers, with the rate of early and on-time settlement reaching 98.65%. The rate of online public services reached 96.1%; the rate of digitized results reached 91.13%; and the rate of online payments reached 99.99%. The ward also reported and proposed to the province the approval of plans to simplify 39 out of 376 commune-level administrative procedures, equivalent to 10.37%. All of these indicators met or exceeded provincial targets as well as the ward’s own plans.

Notably, the ward has promoted many effective models and practices, such as mobile administrative procedure settlement teams, focusing on frequently arising procedures and targeting elderly people in densely populated neighborhoods. At the same time, the locality has strengthened the use and application of the National Population Database, and stepped up communication to encourage residents to use online public services instead of direct transactions.

The ward has also coordinated with telecommunications units to provide free digital signatures to residents when using online public services, helping remove barriers to accessing digital services. Moreover, it has promoted the use of existing specialized management data to reduce and simplify dossiers and paperwork, so that residents and businesses do not have to resubmit information already available to state agencies, thereby significantly saving time and costs.

Huyen emphasized: “The ward prioritizes innovation and improving the effectiveness of the one-stop-shop and interconnected one-stop-shop mechanisms; investing in modern facilities; standardizing processes for receiving and handling dossiers; and promoting information technology application, toward effectively developing the e-government model to better serve the needs of residents and businesses. During implementation, the ward also proactively reports and proposes to higher levels to resolve difficulties beyond its authority, especially in the early stage of operating the two-tier local government model,” she said.

Closely adhering to the provincial direction, together with the efforts of the entire political system and the consensus of the people, in 2025, Tran Bien Ward completed all 18 assigned socio-economic and national defense and security targets. The results in administrative reform serve as an important foundation for the locality to continue advancing on the path toward building a service-oriented, professional and modern administration.

Putting people’s satisfaction at the center

Observations at the Public Administration Service Center show that a professional and friendly working atmosphere has become a common sight. The center has arranged 24 counters to handle administrative procedures across sectors, including priority counters for elderly and vulnerable people, fully implementing the spirit of dedicated public service. Every day, the center receives a large number of residents seeking to handle affairs, mainly in civil status, notarization, land, and social welfare. The staff have made great efforts to uphold responsibility and provide the best possible service to residents.

Directly responsible for guiding residents in using online public services, Nguyen Gia Lam, an officer at the center, expressed his satisfaction with the positive changes in residents’ access to and use of online services. “People are becoming more knowledgeable about using online public services. We always try to give detailed guidance, even recording videos for them to review at home, helping them gradually gain confidence in handling procedures,” Lam shared.

According to Vice Chairwoman of Tran Bien Ward People’s Committee Nguyen Kim Bich Huyen, in practice, besides the achievements, administrative reform still faces many difficulties, especially the lack of synchronized data connectivity and sharing among sectors and levels; fragmented and localized data; and shared software systems that are not fully synchronized and sometimes encounter technical errors, affecting dossier processing progress. In addition, coordination among some organizations and individuals is at times not effective, and some cadres and civil servants remain hesitant to innovate when work environments and methods change.

Huyen said that entering 2026, based on the provincial orientations, Tran Bien Ward People’s Committee will issue an administrative reform plan toward building an administration that is “disciplined, action-oriented and effective,”, placing people’s satisfaction at the center.

Key tasks are clearly identified: improving the effectiveness and efficiency of leadership and administration; strengthening internal inspections and tightening public service ethics; striving for on-time and early dossier settlement rates of 98% or higher; continuing to simplify administrative procedures based on data; accelerating digital transformation, data connectivity, interlinkage and reuse, toward “borderless” administrative procedure settlement; and reforming organizational structures, arranging and using cadres and civil servants in line with their capacities and strengths.

By Ho Thao – Translated by M.Nguyet, Thu Ha