Decree No. 72/2001/NĐ-CP On Classification of Urban Areas and Urban Management Levels.

DECREE OF THE GOVERNMENT

On the classification of urban areas and levels of urban management

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Government Organization Law dated September 30, 1992;

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of People's Councils and People's Committees dated June 21, 1994;

At the proposal of the Minister of Construction and the Minister, Head of the Organization-Cadre Agency under the Government;

DECREE:

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Decree stipulates on the classification of urban areas and levels of urban management.

Article 2. Purpose of classifying urban areas and determining levels of urban management

Classifying urban areas and determining levels of urban management aims to establish a basis for:

1. Organizing, arranging, and developing the urban system nationwide;

2. Delegating urban management levels;

3. Preparing and reviewing urban construction planning;

4. Establishing a system of legal regulations, standards, policies, and mechanisms for urban development management.

Article 3. Urban areas and basic factors for classifying urban areas

1. Urban areas include cities, towns, and townships established by competent state authorities.

2. Basic factors for classifying urban areas include:

a) Function as a comprehensive center or specialized center, playing a role in promoting national or regional socio-economic development;

b) The ratio of non-agricultural labor force to the total labor force must be at least 65%;

c) Infrastructure serving residents' activities must meet at least 70% of the standard and regulation set for each type of urban area;

d) Population size must be at least 4,000 people;

đ) Population density appropriate to the scale, nature, and characteristics of each type of urban area.

3. Criteria for classifying urban areas aim to concretize the factors specified in Clause 2 of this Article, calculated for the inner city, inner town, and township areas.

Article 4. Classification of urban areas and levels of urban management

1. Urban areas are classified into six types, including special-class urban areas, first-class urban areas, second-class urban areas, third-class urban areas, fourth-class urban areas, and fifth-class urban areas.

2. Levels of urban management include:

a) Central city directly under the central government;

b) City under province; town under province or town under central city directly under the central government;

c) Township under district.

Article 5. Establishment of new urban areas and classification of newly established urban areas

1. Newly established urban areas must meet the following conditions:

a) Ensuring the basic factors for classifying urban areas as prescribed in Article 3 of this Decree;

b) General urban construction planning approved by competent state authorities.

2. Provincial People's Councils, People's Councils of centrally governed cities organize the establishment of files for new urban areas, including plans for splitting, merging, dissolving, or adjusting administrative boundaries related to the establishment of new urban areas, which have been approved by the Provincial People's Councils, centrally governed cities' People's Councils to submit to competent state authorities for decision.

3. Recognition of the classification of newly established urban areas will be carried out after the decision on establishing new urban areas by competent state management authorities.

Article 6. Division of inner city, inner town, and suburban areas

A city is divided into: inner city and suburban area (hereinafter referred to as inner city, suburban area). A town is divided into: inner town and suburban town (hereinafter referred to as inner town, suburban town). A township does not have a suburban township.

Article 7. Functions and scale of suburban areas

1. Suburban areas have the following functions:

a) Arranging key infrastructure works, residential areas, sanitation facilities, environmental protection facilities, production bases, service facilities, healthcare facilities, educational and scientific research facilities, and other special facilities that cannot be arranged within the inner city or town;

b) Arranging rest facilities; tourist and leisure zones; green belts, forest parks for environmental protection and ecological balance;

c) Reserving land for expanding and developing urban areas.

2. The scale of suburban areas is determined based on:

a) The location and nature of the urban area;

b) The population size of the inner city or town;

c) The level of development of transportation infrastructure connecting the inner city or town with adjacent areas;

d) Relationships between the inner city or town and adjacent areas;

đ) Historical features and natural conditions of each locality;

e) Reasonable organization of administrative units for urban management;

g) Requirements for developing suburban area functions to support the development of the inner city or town according to the urban construction planning approved by competent state authorities.

PART II

CLASSIFICATION OF URBAN AREAS

Article 8. Special-class city

A special-class city must meet the following criteria:

1. The capital city or a city with functions as a political, economic, cultural, scientific and technological, educational, tourism, service center, transportation hub, and domestic and international exchange center, playing a role in promoting national socio-economic development;

2. The proportion of non-agricultural labor in total labor must be 90% or more;

3. It must have infrastructure that is basically synchronized and complete;

4. Population size must be 1.5 million people or more;

5. Average population density must be 15,000 people/km²;² or more.

Article 9. Class I city

A Class I city must meet the following criteria:

1. A city with functions as a political, economic, cultural, scientific and technological, tourism, service center, transportation hub, and domestic and international exchange center, playing a role in promoting regional socio-economic development across provinces or nationwide;

2. The proportion of non-agricultural labor in total labor must be 85% or more;

3. It must have infrastructure that is largely synchronized and complete;

4. Population size must be 500,000 people or more;

5. Average population density must be 12,000 people/km²;² or more.

Article 10. Class II city

A Class II city must meet the following criteria:

1. A city with functions as a political, economic, cultural, scientific and technological, tourism, service center, transportation hub, and domestic and international exchange center within a province, inter-provincial region, or nationwide, playing a role in promoting regional socio-economic development across inter-provincial regions or certain fields nationwide;

2. The proportion of non-agricultural labor in total labor must be 80% or more;

3. It must have infrastructure that is moving towards relatively synchronized and complete development in many aspects;

4. Population size must be 250,000 people or more;

5. Average population density must be 10,000 people/km²;² or more.

Article 11. Class III city

A Class III city must meet the following criteria:

1. A city with functions as a political, economic, cultural, scientific and technological, service center, transportation hub, and domestic and international exchange center within a province or inter-provincial region, playing a role in promoting provincial socio-economic development or certain fields within an inter-provincial region;

2. The proportion of non-agricultural labor in total labor must be 75% or more;

3. It must have infrastructure that is synchronized and complete in individual aspects;

4. Population size must be 100,000 people or more;

5. Average population density must be 8,000 people/km²;² or more.

Article 12. Class IV city

A Class IV city must meet the following criteria:

1. A city with functions as a comprehensive or specialized center for politics, economy, culture, science and technology, services, transportation hub, and domestic exchange center within a province, playing a role in promoting provincial socio-economic development or a region within a province;

2. The proportion of non-agricultural labor in total labor must be 70% or more;

3. It must have infrastructure that has been or is being developed in individual aspects to be synchronized and complete;

4. Population size must be 50,000 people or more;

5. Average population density must be 6,000 people/km²;² or more.

Article 13. Class V city

A Class V city must meet the following criteria:

1. A city with functions as a comprehensive or specialized center for politics, economy, culture, and services, playing a role in promoting socio-economic development of a district or a cluster of communes;

2. The proportion of non-agricultural labor in total labor must be 65% or more;

3. It must have infrastructure that has been or is being developed but not yet synchronized and complete;

4. Population size must be 4,000 people or more;

5. Average population density must be 2,000 people/km²;² or more.

Article 14. Standards for classifying cities applicable to special cases (for some cities of Type III, Type IV, and Type V)

1. For cities located in mountainous areas, highland regions, remote areas, border areas, and islands, the standards prescribed for each type of city may be lower, but must ensure a minimum level equal to 70% of the standard levels stipulated in Articles 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 of this Decree.

2. For cities with resort, tourism, convalescent functions, scientific research cities, and training cities, the population size standard may be lower, but must reach 70% of the prescribed level; specifically, the average population density standard for resort and tourism cities and convalescent cities may be lower, but must at least reach 50% of the prescribed levels stipulated in Articles 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 of this Decree.

Article 15. Authority to decide on recognizing the type of city

1. The Government decides to recognize a special-class city upon the proposal of the Minister of Construction and Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier as mentioned in Sub-clause b, Clause 1, Article 3 above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will review and submit to the competent authority for decision (Issues exceeding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' jurisdiction will be referred to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision).the People's Committee of a centrally-administered city.

2. The Prime Minister decides to recognize a Class I city and a Class II city upon the proposal of the Minister of Construction and Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier as mentioned in Sub-clause b, Clause 1, Article 3 above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will review and submit to the competent authority for decision (Issues exceeding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' jurisdiction will be referred to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision).the People's Committee of a province. Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier as mentioned in Sub-clause b, Clause 1, Article 3 above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will review and submit to the competent authority for decision (Issues exceeding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' jurisdiction will be referred to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision).the People's Committee of a centrally-administered city.

3. The Minister of Construction decides to recognize a Class III city and a Class IV city upon the proposal of Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier as mentioned in Sub-clause b, Clause 1, Article 3 above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will review and submit to the competent authority for decision (Issues exceeding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' jurisdiction will be referred to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision).the People's Committee of a province. Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier as mentioned in Sub-clause b, Clause 1, Article 3 above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will review and submit to the competent authority for decision (Issues exceeding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' jurisdiction will be referred to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision).the People's Committee of a centrally-administered city.

4. Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier as mentioned in Sub-clause b, Clause 1, Article 3 above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will review and submit to the competent authority for decision (Issues exceeding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' jurisdiction will be referred to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision).the People's Committee of a province. Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier as mentioned in Sub-clause b, Clause 1, Article 3 above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will review and submit to the competent authority for decision (Issues exceeding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' jurisdiction will be referred to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision).the People's Committee of a centrally-administered city decides to recognize a Class V city upon the proposal of Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier as mentioned in Sub-clause b, Clause 1, Article 3 above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will review and submit to the competent authority for decision (Issues exceeding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' jurisdiction will be referred to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision).the People's Committee of a district after approving the urban development planning and urban development plan for the residential area or commune proposed to establish a town.

CHAPTER III

URBAN MANAGEMENT LEVELS

Article 16. Basis for determining the urban management level

The basis for determining the urban management level includes:

1. According to the classification of cities as follows:

a) Central cities must be special-class cities or Class I cities;

b) Provincially-affiliated cities must be Class II cities or Class III cities;

c) District cities affiliated with provinces or central cities must be Class III cities or Class IV cities;

d) Towns affiliated with districts must be Class IV cities or Class V cities.

2. Administrative management needs of the state according to territorial division.

3. Comprehensive planning for socio-economic development, comprehensive planning for urban development nationwide, and general urban construction planning approved by competent state authorities.

Article 17. Decision on urban management level

The decision on urban management level is implemented in accordance with Clause 8, Article 2 of the Law on Organization of the National Assembly and Clause 1, Article 16 of the Law on Organization of the Government.

PART IV

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 18. Effective Date

This Decree replaces Decision No. 132/HĐBT dated May 5, 1990 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government) and takes effect 15 days after its signing date.

Article 19. Implementation

1. The Ministry of Construction, the Organizational-Cadre Department of the Government shall be responsible for guiding the implementation of this Decree.

2. Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of government-affiliated agencies, Chairmen Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier as mentioned in Sub-clause b, Clause 1, Article 3 above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will review and submit to the competent authority for decision (Issues exceeding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' jurisdiction will be referred to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision).of provincial People's Committees, centrally-administered city People's Committees within their respective duties and powers shall be responsible for organizing the implementation of this Decree./.