12 oblasts of Ukraine plan to submit changes to their perspective plans for consideration by the oblast councils during May-June 2018. These include the Vinnytsia, Volyn, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Mykolayiv, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi Oblasts, as reported by Minregion, referring to the data obtained from oblast state administrations.

The Luhansk and Poltava Oblasts plan to cope with this work in the second half of 2018.

It is worth mentioning that in February Minregion, responsible for implementing the reform of local self-government and territorial organisation of power, determined the task for the oblast state administrations to develop and submit for the Government’s approval their perspective plans for the formation of capable hromadas within 100% of the oblast territory.

Currently, the territory of the Kirovohrad and Rivne Oblasts are covered by perspective plans by 100%.

MinRegion has received changes to the perspective plan for the formation of hromadas of the Chernihiv Oblast, currently subject to approval by central executive authorities and all-Ukrainian associations of local self-government bodies.

Besides, the changes to the perspective plan for the formation of territories of the capable hromadas of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, that envisage the inclusion of cities of oblast significance in the perspective plan, are now under MinRegion’s consideration, and, thus, will cover 100% of the oblast territory.

The Lviv Oblast State Administration submitted changes to the perspective plan for consideration by the oblast council on April 10, and this issue was included in the agenda of the session on April 20, however, has not been considered so far.

Earlier, Vyacheslav Nehoda, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services, stated that formation of capable hromadas exactly in accordance with the perspective plans is important:

“It does not deny the voluntariness of amalgamation, but only allows not to leave anyone behind the reform, and brings the hromada, established in accordance with a perspective plan, to the level of a capable one. Many of the hromadas that were formed earlier not complying with perspective plans, are now integrating new councils, as previously anticipated. There are also those who amalgamated, but their capability is still far from being reached. The reason is again that they did not listen and amalgamated without due account of the PP vision. This way is false. Those who have passed it, have already faced it.”