MinRegion has elaborated draft laws aimed at increasing the competitiveness of regions, simplifying the access to resources of the State Fund for Regional Development, accelerating and ensuring stable funding of regional development projects, commented Hennadii Zubko, Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services, on the governmental approval of the draft laws “On Amendments to the Law on the Principles of State Regional Policy” and “On Amendments to the Budget Code of Ukraine on Improving the Mechanism of Regional Development Funding”. According to the official, these draft laws have to be approved by the Verkhovna Rada simultaneously.

According to the Vice Prime Minister, the first document empowers the Government to determine the priorities of funding programmes and projects that can be implemented at the expense of the State Fund for Regional Development, as well as proportions of direction of the Fund’s financial resources. Besides, the document clarifies the powers of the state authorities in the regions regarding the competitive selection of investment programmes and regional development projects. According to Mr Zubko, implementation of the draft law will ensure stable and affordable funding of projects during their implementation.

According to the official, the second draft law stipulates that priorities of funding of the respective programmes and projects are determined by the Cabinet of Ministers for a term up to three years. Zubko said that financial resources of the SFRD will be used, in particular, to fund projects aimed at reducing interregional socio-economic disproportions.

“The document envisages that distribution of additional 20% of the SFRD’s finances should be extended not only to regions with the gross regional product per capita of less than 75% of the average in Ukraine, but also to depressed territories of other regions,” said the official.

He noted the importance of innovation envisaged in the draft document that concerns harmonisation of the terms of competitive selection in the regions and submission of relevant proposals to MinRegion with the budget process.

According to Hennadii Zubko, the project envisages formation of the SFRD in the amount of 10% of the corporate income tax in a special fund of the state budget. “It will ensure a stable and guaranteed formation of the SFRD, and will save the funds, not used until the end of the year, for the next year,” he said.