The quality of hromadas, and not their number, is very important to us. At the end of the year, decrease in AH number is expected compared to previous year (in 2017, 299 AHs were established). If this year, for example, there will be 100 hromadas, but they will be larger by the territory, population and financial capacity, I will be only glad about this. Our task is to amalgamate those 12 thousand local councils, existing at the beginning of decentralisation, into more powerful hromadas, noted Hennadii Zubko, Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, in an interview with the online publication Аgropolit.

"More capable hromadas will take over responsibility and develop their territories much more effectively. We see that a number of hromadas have already begun negotiating their amalgamation. 3378 hromadas are already established. We need more powerful and capable hromadas, then the country will be stronger. Therefore, today we are concerned not about the number, but about the quality of hromadas," said Hennadii Zubko.

According to the Vice Prime Minister, the recently approved law No 6466 on attracting cities of oblast significance to decentralisation should launch a new trend of accession to hromadas in the cities of oblast significance.

According to him, the hromadas accessed to cities of oblast significance, along with citizens living there, make an additional resource for development, in particular, investment attraction. After all, investors primarily come for working hands, labour resources, qualified personnel, and not just the territory. "The most important thing is that motivation of rural hromadas to build urban quality of life creates competition for investors, people, infrastructure, possibility of obtaining taxes and additional revenues. Therefore, as a result, decentralisation will intensify internal competition that will develop the whole Ukraine faster and in a more powerful way," said the Vice Prime Minister.

Hennadii Zubko also mentioned the issue of amalgamation of rayons’ boundaries. According to him, the mechanism is being developed for this purpose within the framework of a separate draft law. "Currently, only oblast councils can launch a change in the boundaries of the rayons, addressing the parliament with a request for approval of the relevant resolution with the list of settlements. We want to ensure that this right is directly received by hromadas in order for them to change their boundaries within the rayons. To do this, at first, the decision of the specialised parliamentary committee on how to move regarding this issue is needed, and then comes the session hall," the official said.