A joint sitting of the Presidium of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine with the National Council of Reforms was held on July 29 with the participation of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

The meeting was also attended by the leadership of the Office of the President, representatives of the Government and local governments.

Opening the event, the President noted that two constructive meetings of the Congress had already taken place in Dnipro and Khmelnytsky, where important issues had been raised.

"Today, I would very much like us to hear about the solutions to the issues we have discussed in detail, or about the resolution processes that are already being finalized," the President said.

For his part, the Prime Minister noted that the issue of housing and communal services reform, in particular the situation with tariffs, remains relevant for residents of all regions.

"Tariffs for heating and hot water are a joint responsibility, which should additionally motivate the local authorities to bring order to utilities and district heating companies. Bill 3508-d was recently approved, which allows to start the procedure of debt verification, as well as to talk about options for proper debt restructuring. This is one of the main tasks of this year, the ultimate goal of which is to financially rehabilitate the gas market and enable district heating companies to provide quality services to communities," the Prime Minister stressed.

Denys Shmyhal also reminded that the Cabinet of Ministers had approved the concept of the state target program "Drinking Water of Ukraine" for 2022-2026. Within its limits, in particular, it is planned to build 290 water intake structures, 280 water supply and treatment facilities, 1093 water supply networks.

"According to our plan, in the next 5 years the state should invest more than UAH 28 billion in new water quality. We also actively involve international organizations and their financial resources in this matter. One of the recent important initiatives in this direction is a loan agreement with France for EUR 70 million, which will provide millions of residents of Luhansk and Kyiv with quality potable water," said the Prime Minister.

According to him, the institutional reform of the State Water Agency is underway, hydrographic zoning has been carried out and basin councils have been formed for each river basin. Denys Shmyhal stressed that in this activity the Government involves local authorities and is committed to expand cooperation.