Prime Minister assures decentralization remains top priority agenda for the Government

Having launched the decentralization reform back in 2014 the Government still keeps it a priority direction. According to the data of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, in 2017, financial decentralization provided growth of local budgets up to UAH 170 billion, while local revenues of 366 consolidated territorial communities created as a result of reform and involved in intergovernmental relations grew 1.8fold.

Communities completely and independently spend the accumulated funds and decide where to direct them to satisfy the most urgent needs of people. Among those are the improvement of the infrastructure of settlements - from roads to playgrounds, equipping of medical and obstetrical stations, hospitals and polyclinics, construction and renovation of schools and kindergartens, the opening of administrative services provision centers, and solving issues of collecting and utilizing garbage.

Quarterly in Ukraine there is edited a miscellany telling about the most vivid examples of the development of amalgamated communities and the most important projects being implemented locally.

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has emphasized, nobody is going to stop decentralization, as the government model of Ukraine's social and economic development is based on a system of strong local governance. Meanwhile, the Head of Government reiterated that powers and financial resources bear not only prospects, but also responsibility - to efficiently and successfully accept existing opportunities.

No less important, according to Volodymyr Groysman, is the involvement of local authorities in the fundamental changes currently taking place in the education, healthcare, and energy efficiency sectors. The projects of construction of educational infrastructure objects, as well as thermal modernization of the housing stock, should become a priority for local governments, assures the Prime Minister.

At that, he stresses that the Government expresses its commitment to make efforts to support the regions - primarily through the resources of the State Regional Development Fund. The state budget for 2018 envisages UAH 6 billion allotted to fill the SRDF. The subvention for the formation of the infrastructure of the consolidated territorial communities will amount to UAH 1.9 billion.