On June 14, the citizens of Moldova will vote the new local administration. IPN News Agency set the goal to determine how the local public authorities coped during the current term that is coming to an end. Experts, opinion leaders and representatives of civil society from different settlements will assess the activity of the local authorities of the country’s districts and municipalities. IPN series: Ialoveni district.
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Ialoveni district has 25 mayor’s offices for 35 settlements. Its total population is 100,000.
Sergiu Gurau, chairman of the Association “Eco-Razeni”, considers there are too many administrative jobs at district level. The villages yet face a shortage of functionaries and qualified specialists. Some of those who work in mayor’s offices do not have the necessary qualifications and do not always respond promptly to the people’s needs. The situation can be improved by introducing information technology to facilitate the provision of services at local level and to make the administrative personnel more responsible.
Sergiu Gurau considers the local authorities progressed slowly over the last four years, but achieved particular results, especially in the area of youth policies. More money was allocated for the youth sector. The district authorities had meetings with young people. However, the authorities didn’t do much to provide the young families with dwelling and to attract young specialists to villages.
The lack of sporting and recreational infrastructure is another problem. In villages, emphasis is laid on the repair of roads and schools, while the development of infrastructure for spending the leisure time is not a priority for the local authorities. Things can be changed by staging public consultations in the community to discuss the projects needed by every village apart, stated Sergiu Gurau.
“In our country, the decisions are taken by councilors and mayors, who have a certain view on community development, but the community’s opinion about the implemented projects and their need is not taken into account. The population is not consulted, while the draft decisions are not proposed for debates. The mayors consider they have solutions to all the existing problems and do not need to discuss with the people to find out other ideas,” stated Sergiu Gurau. He suggested that the local authorities should place emphasis on the improvement of communication with the people, implement the projects needed by each community separately and not copy projects from other settlements that may not be necessary.
As to the promises made in the previous election campaign, Sergiu Gurau said these were 35%-40% fulfilled. Among the mayor’s offices that implemented successful projects are those of Razeni and Puhoi, where a plot was allotted for building a health center on it. In Bardar and Razeni, the roads were repaired and a sewerage system was built within relevant projects. In Ialoveni town, there were set up several parks and repaired several libraries. On the other hand, those who acted based on unilateral decisions of a narrow circle of people and didn’t seriously address the community’s problems didn’t achieve results.
To make the local administration more efficient, the small mayor’s offices should be merged and electronic services should be implemented in the local administration. There should be fewer public functionaries, but with higher qualifications and evidently with higher pays, said Sergiu Gurau.
Alina Marin, IPN
