The synergy of the efforts of the rayont executive authorities and local self-government is the basis for the success of the decentralisation reform. This is exactly the case in the Pyriatyn Rayon of the Poltava Oblast. This time, at the initiative of the local rayon state administration, a discussion was initiated on the options for the configuration of two capableamalgamated hromadas.

At first, deputies and the hromadas of the village of Velyka Krucha met with Oleh Kucha, head of the RSA, Iryna Balybina and Tetyana Pautova, representatives of the Poltava Local Government Development Centre, established with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme and MinRegion. A constructive dialogue was held on accelerating the accession of the Velyka Krucha to the Pyriatynska urban AH. The deputies and hromada representatives were able to raise questions to the LGDC experts and rayon leaders.

In the afternoon, the village heads of the Pyriatyn Rayon were invited to the Pyriatyn Administrative Service Centre. Ihor Shykerynets, deputy head of the Pyriatyn Town Council, and Larysa Kochur, Chief of the Town Council Executive Committee, talked about the ASC activities and the administrative and municipal services provided to the AH residents.

The guests also learned about the availability of electronic services through the “Citizen’s Page” and preparation of a project on the provision of administrative services for intermunicipal cooperation. The guests from the Poltava LGDC informed about the state of implementation of the Law of Ukraine “On Voluntary Amalgamation of Hromadas” in the oblast.

Oleh Kucha and Vladyslav Gulenko, deputy head of the Rayon State Administration, told about further steps towards implementation of the Law in the Pyriatyn Rayon. They voiced the prospects for the establishment of a new AH in the rayon and possible expansion of the existing Pyriatynska AH. According to the perspective plan, Berezova Rudka will become the centre of another amalgamated hromada.

The experts from the Poltava LGDC presented previous calculations of the financial indicators of the future AH. “Potential Berezovorudska AH will have, among other things, a good tourist component. Firstly, it is easy to get here from the Kyiv-Kharkiv highway. Secondly, an ethnographic festival “Svichka’s Wedding” is held here. But the main thing is that a unique pyramid for Ukraine – the generic burial place of the famous Zakrevskyi family – is located here. In addition to the “Egyptian past”, the Zakrevskyi family is known for their close ties not only with Taras Shevchenko (he visited Berezova Rudka), but also with Maksym Horkyi and Herbert Wells,” said Iryna Balybina, director of the Poltava LGDC.