World Bank to finance preparation of plans for 600 Ukrainian towns and UTCs

Ukraine plans to sign an agreement with the World Bank to finance the preparation of 600 comprehensive spatial development plans by 2024.

Deputy Minister of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Viacheslav Nehoda made a corresponding announcement during the presentation of expert recommendations “How should united territorial communities manage their territories under the conditions of the land market: Seven important steps”, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to him, Ukraine expects that the World Bank will provide such support through its main credit institution – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Nehoda did not disclose the details of the future program and when such an agreement could be signed.

According to him, the Ministry aims to ensure that local self-government bodies have access to various sources of funding for the preparation of territorial development plans. In particular, the Cabinet of Ministers is considering a draft resolution on granting state subsidies to local communities for the preparation of comprehensive spatial development plans.

“We rely on funding from the World Bank and the IBRD, part of the funds will be provided from the state budget. The resource of local budgets also needs to be utilized. There will be other resources. However, self-government bodies of territorial communities must realize that no investor will come to them and no development of territories is possible without modern urban planning documentation,” Nehoda stressed.

He clarified that the preparation of comprehensive spatial development plans should be preceded by conducting an inventory of all lands, registering property rights, entering all the necessary information in the registers, and transferring data on electronic maps.

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