Groysman: Government launches new stage of decentralization

“The government is launching a new stage of decentralization, the main task of which is to complete the formation of capable communities. About 100 districts and 1,600-1,800 united territorial communities should become the new territorial basis of Ukraine. Local elections in 2020 should be carried out considering the new territorial basis. Moreover, decentralization should be enshrined in the Constitution so that to make the reform irreversible,” Groysman wrote on Facebook.

He reminded that the decentralization reform was launched five years ago. During its implementation, hundreds of Ukrainian cities and villages were united into communities, their budgets grew, schools, kindergartens were rebuilt, new clinics and centers for administrative services were opened. "876 united territorial communities have already been formed. For comparison, there were only 159 in 2015. Local budget revenues grew from UAH 70.2 billion in 2014 to UAH 233.9 billion in 2018," the prime minister wrote.

In addition, Groysman added that in 2016-2018, about 3,000 infrastructure facilities were built in united territorial communities and about 1.5 million hectares of land outside of villages were transferred into the ownership of united territorial communities.