Photo: Max Trebukhov
First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services Vyacheslav Nehoda said that the process of forming the united territorial communities crossed the equator.
"As of today, 366 joint territorial communities have been formed created over two years, 47 new communities were announced this year. 123 more communities submitted paperworks to the CEC. That makes 570 united communities that united over 2500 local self-governments. This is a huge work, and the dynamics are much greater than we have expected. In fact we have already crossed the equator of the formation of self-sustainable communities," he said at a round table conferenece at Gorshenin Institute on Monday.
Nehoda admitted, however, that a number of issues still need resolution.
Firstly, there are cities of regional importance. "For various reasons, only four such cities took part in the formation of territorial communities. Despite that cities of regional importance have benefited the most from financial decentralization, they are the most passive in terms of integration. The cities of regional and regional importance should become centers of development of communities," Nehoda said and added that a recently adopted bill should spur up the process.
The second problem is the distribution of powers.
"With the massive creation of such communities, they are taking over functions and powers of district administrations and district councils making them superfluous," the deputy minister said.