Журнал Viche 2009 №11

№11, 2009

Will Village Councils Become District Centres?

The discussions of the future reform of administrative and territorial system of Ukraine have begun in the society (see issue № 9 of “Viche”). Despite the arguments concerning separate positions of the conception, only some do not acknowledge the necessity of the realization of such reform, because the present mode does not make the development of some citizens possible, predetermines hard centralization of the power. Therefore until now we live according to the principle: people – for power, but not power – for people.

So the conception of the reform, prepared by the Department of District Construction, foresees three levels of management – area, district and society. Status of areas will be reserved by districts; their limits will not be moved.

 

– Firstly, the Constitution determines the names and amount of districts, and this list can not be revised without the amendments to the Basic Law, –Anatoliy Tkachyk, the deputy of the Minister of the District Development and Construction says (in the picture - left). – Secondly, districts are permanent enough formations which were formed historically and were incorporated according to certain features: settlement of people, climatic conditions, geographical integrity and economic integration.

 

The bodies of district power are supposed to get rid of control functions, planning and realization of the district programs, some specialized plenary powers.

 

Areas will become the intermediate members of the state administration. Their amount will diminish, as in fact in accordance with the conception of the reformation no less than 100 thousand people have to live there (as for today this index fluctuates from less than 10 thousand to 170 thousand). There are about 500 areas in Ukraine in general, and that shows the extraordinary division of the territory. According to the model, for example, in Lviv district only 9 areas can be formed from present 17.

 

Area power will take care, in particular, of the sphere of health protection: medical areas will be formed. According to the calculations 9 hospitals will operate in an ordinary area.

Yuriy MYKOLAYIV