After the local elections, in a new format, with the mayors who will be elected, we are to implement the law on voluntary amalgamation, said the head of the Parliament’s commission on public administration and regional development Larisa Voloh. According to the MP of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), the voluntary amalgamation methodology was adopted and is to be implemented after this year’s local general elections, IPN reports.
Voluntary amalgamation means unforced merger of two or more localities of the first level with the aim of strengthening their administrative capacity and providing public services of a high quality to the citizens. According to PAS MP Larisa Voloh, the legislation concerning this process was already adopted and the new mayors after elections will take a decision on the voluntary amalgamation of their localities.
“The law on voluntary amalgamation was given the first and second readings before the MPs’ vacation. We will cover this electoral stage and later, in a new format, with the new mayors who will be elected to manage local communities, we will implement this law. The Government fulfilled its duty as the voluntary amalgamation methodology was designed. We are yet to work a lot to reach decentralization and authentic local self-government, but step by step we will achieve all the objectives,” Larisa Voloh stated in the program “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei station.
According to the PAS MP, the authorities’ priority is to offer all the citizens access to high-quality services and public services need to be regionalized for the purpose.
“Our intention is to regionalize a large a part of the services. The higher is the number of beneficiaries, the lower is the cost associated with service provision. Furthermore, these systems will be modernized. The new technologies will reduce network maintenance costs. The number of people in rural localities decreased and we have this problem with aging. That’s why this reform will be implemented by sectors. We started with social assistance. The education system, the health system will probably follow and we will continue in the same way on different segments, as regards infrastructure. We must intervene and create better conditions. These better conditions will probably attract investors to rural localities,” said Larisa Voloh.
Under the law on amalgamation, if two or more localities decide to merge voluntarily, the process will be supported by the state. During seven years, the Government will allocate money for developing the infrastructure and for supporting the budgets of the amalgamated localities.
