Before consideration at the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC), the draft regulations concerning the constitution and functioning of the Consultative Quarter Councils (CQC) in the municipality of Chisinau has been discussed at public debates, Info-Prim Neo reports. Decision makers from the City Hall and district heads’ offices of Chisinau, municipal councilors, representatives of the team that drafted the project and of contributors as well as managers of the housing sector took part in the presentation meeting. Municipal councilor Oleg Cernei said, at the meeting, that the draft document is discussed in accordance with the regulations concerning transparency in decision making adopted in January 2008, which say that CMC cannot make a decision until it is not debated publicly with the main social players. The participants stressed the necessity of forming Consultative Quarter Councils with the aim of establishing a viable partnership between the local authorities and the civil society so as to increase transparency and consult the people when making decisions. This way, certain problems, especially those related to housing administration, will be solved easier. In the same connection, the participants said that a society will be developed and democratic when the citizens get involved. There is no such involvement in Moldova for the time being. Elena Lesan, representative of Soros-Moldova Foundation, said the objective of the regulations was to involve the Chisinau residents in decision making through CQC. According to her, this is a noble project that aims to establish a dialogue between the people and the local public authorities. The hope that the cooperation will be constructive is fueled by the fact that similar councils work in towns in Romania, Germany and other states. Constantin Nunu, consultant of INRECO Conflict Resolution Institute, said that the key element of the regulations concerned the relations between CQCs and the local public administration. According to him, the direct communication between the community and the administration is deficient, despite certain relations. The CQCs come to fill the communication gap between the administrators and the inhabitants. The managers of the housing sector anticipated that one of the problems that they would face while implementing the CQC project will be the insufficient receptivity of the people, reason for which the initiative should be widely disseminated. The draft regulations are now at the specialty commissions of the CMC. They will be discussed at the Council’s meeting of March 20, 2008. Under the document, the Consultative Quarter Council is a voluntary, apolitical and nonprofit citizens’ organization set up in compliance with the Law on the Local Public Administration to identify and solve the problems faced by the local community. The initiative to work out the regulations concerning the constitution and functioning of CQCs was put forward by the public association INRECO Conflict Resolution Institute. The project is financed by Soros-Moldova Foundation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.