SRDF in Diia: Parliament adopts draft law that enables citizens to choose regional development projects

Today, on June 29, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the second reading the draft law No. 9165. It gives Ukrainian citizens the opportunity to independently select projects for the development of their own regions to be financed by the State Regional Development Fund (SRDF).

Previously, citizens were deprived of the tools to directly participate in the selection of such projects.

"This tool is one of the elements of our policy of involving citizens in the reconstruction. Together with the relevant committee, we are already developing a number of e-democracy and local democracy solutions to ensure transparency and accountability of local authorities to citizens.

We also plan to systematically review the logic and mechanisms for using the SRDF resources, along with the revision of the State Regional Development Strategy initiated by us, which should meet the requirements and challenges of the country's recovery and modernization.

In particular, to this end, we are developing a Geographic Information System for Regional Recovery and Development, which, among other things, allows us to digitize the processes of planning and monitoring regional development by indicators that are in line with similar European ones. This will become the basis for preparing communities and regions for European integration and attracting EU funds for regional development and achieving the goals of the cohesion policy," said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine, Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development.

What is the project selection algorithm?

Central, local executive authorities and local governments submit their projects to regional commissions. They will do this through a specialized online platform. The platform should ensure a transparent and impartial selection of projects at the regional level.

The regional commissions will conduct a preliminary assessment of projects based on a number of criteria, including the socio-economic impact of the project, sustainability, amount of co-financing, etc. The evaluation will be based on a scoring system, with projects from small towns with a population of up to 50,000 people receiving an extra point.

Projects that score at least 25 points are submitted to the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development commission, which checks the projects for compliance with the law and submits them for an open poll in the Diia app.

Based on the results of the open poll, lists of winning projects are formed, and the Ministry will submit relevant proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for the distribution of the SRDF funds.

Which projects are prioritized?

The projects should be aimed at developing, restoring or building critical infrastructure, housing and communal facilities, hospitals, CASPs, security centers and shelters, strengthening the regional and local economy in the face of martial law challenges and/or creating conditions for the relocation of production facilities.