The need to improve the legislation to address many problematic issues to be resolved within municipal agglomerations has been discussed for years on end. During this time, the Law “On Cooperation of Territorial Communities” was adopted, which provides ample opportunities for municipalities to address their common issues. The idea of ​​adopting a special law on agglomerations has also been discussed for a long time. At the same time, Ukraine has decentralised power and resources and created capable municipalities, enabling local self-governments to address common issues more effectively today.

This was stated by Viacheslav Nehoda, Deputy Minister for Communities and Territorial Development, during the round table “Transport Model for Kyiv Agglomeration: Study of European Experience” held by the Council of Europe Programme “Enhancing Decentralisation and Public Administration Reform in Ukraine” together with the Local Government Association “Kyiv Agglomeration”.

“The issue of creating a common efficient transport model is very important for the Kyiv region. All residents of Kyiv and hundreds of thousands of visitors to the capital city are aware of it. Is it possible to resolve this and other issues before the adoption of the law on agglomerations? I think so. Moreover, local self-governments, which are now part of the Local Government Association “Kyiv Agglomeration”, could jointly develop and implement this model and set a precedent. Its results would form the basis of future legislative changes,” said Viacheslav Nehoda.

According to him, the current Law on Cooperation allows municipalities to enter into an agreement and jointly create, implement, finance and manage a common transport model.

“There have been no precedents on transport issues in the 8 years of the Law ‘On Cooperation of Territorial Communities’. But we and the experts could draft such an agreement,” said the Deputy Minister.

However, according to Viacheslav Nehoda, this requires first developing a comprehensive spatial development plan for the entire territory of the municipalities are to be part of the future Kyiv agglomeration, which should include a public transport scheme that would meet local needs as well as comply with the state development policy.

“Apart from local self-governments, the regional and central executive bodies should be involved: the Ministry of Infrastructure, the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection (Ukravtodor), Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) and other bodies related to the formation of the national transport system and transport network of the region and its municipalities. Each level of governance should bear its own responsibility for this project,” said the Deputy Minister.

After that, in his opinion, it will be possible to start developing a transport model within the cooperation agreement, which will prescribe the general responsibility of the parties, the procedure for forming a joint governing body delegated with certain powers to manage this system, as well as co-financing mechanisms.

“The results of today’s round table can form the basis of our further joint efforts. We are ready to cooperate, but a lot also depends on the desire of the municipalities themselves,” said Viacheslav Nehoda.

During the event, Daniel Popescu, Head of Department of Democracy and Governance of the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe, noted that the decentralisation allowed the heads of municipalities to become critical to the modern architecture of governance in Ukraine.

“This is very good for the creation of future agglomerations because this mechanism stipulates that all municipalities must work together as a singular organism, be equal and trust each other, trust the very process of cooperation. And now we see that there is such trust in Ukrainian local self-government. Russia’s aggression has further strengthened it,” said Daniel Popescu.

He also expressed hope that the experience of the Council of Europe in creating agglomerations will be useful for the municipalities of the Kyiv region as well as other regions of Ukraine. “We provide and will continue to provide all the necessary guidance,” said Daniel Popescu.