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: Nisporeni district
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Nisporeni district has 23 mayor’s offices for its 39 settlements. The total population is over 66,000.
In Nisporeni district, the mayor’s offices should be more concentrated. This would reduce the administrative costs and the saved money could be invested in settlement development projects. This is not possible now owing to the tight budgets, especially after the schools switched over to self-management, said Maria Dodon, who heads the public organization “Speranta” based in Zberoaia village. According to her, the local administration can be concentrated in one village, located at an equal distance from the settlements that form part of the same mayor’s office. There should be one mayor, while in the villages where there will be no mayor’s office there should be by a secretary that would collect people’s demands.
As to the accomplishments of the mayor of Zberoaia, Maria Dodon said not much was done owing to lack of experience. “The term of office is short and the mayor only grasped the essence of things and didn’t manage to fulfill all the promises,” she stated. Asked how the local administration can be made more efficient, Maria Dodon said fruitful partnerships are needed with all the local institutions. The local administration should focus more on projects and should access more funds for developing the village. Emphasis should be placed on the development of small businesses so that the people have work and the village prospers.
The key projects are those that would bring workplaces to keep the young people at home so that the villages do not remain with elderly people and children only. An example of success is Grozesti village, where important results were achieved through water supply and farmland irrigation projects. The home of culture in the village was repaired. The Milesti mayor’s office implemented projects to repair the roads, to build a community center, etc. There are also mayor’s offices where the employees need training to work out a project and to implement it afterwards.
As regards the previous electoral promises, Maria Dodon said that at district level these were delivered, not yet at local level. The people’s expectations of the coming elections are that the politicians should no longer make empty promises, but should implement initiatives that would improve the living conditions.
Alina Marin, IPN
