As soon as next year the majority of services will be provided at the hromada level, whereas rayons will be necessary mostly for the executive power arrangement locally. That is why there is no need for town and village residents to worry about changes in the rayon configuration and functions.

The issue was covered during the press conference «New Rayons in Ukraine: From Quantity to Efficiency», involving the deputy Minister of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine Vyacheslav Nehoda and a people’s deputy, the head of the sub-committee on the administrative and territorial arrangement Vitalii Bezghin.

«The current division of Ukraine into rayons does not correspond to the modern criteria and was targeted to another social and political system 60-100 years ago. They are not proportionate judging by their sizes: there are rayons with the population of 6-7 thousand inhabitants and rayons housing more than 180 thousand residents. It is obvious that the current division must be improved to create an efficient rayon level, mainly for the purpose of the state executive power organization at the local level. So, the MinRegion has created clear criteria and proposed a draft of the quantity and structure of rayons in each region and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. It was preceded by hard discussions, involving the local authorities, line associations, people’s deputies and international technical support projects experts», - claimed Vyacheslav Nehoda.