Municipalities that choose voluntary amalgamation will benefit from funding for project preparation, investments calculated based on the number of inhabitants, and budgetary support for three years to cover transition costs. These measures are part of the Government’s funding package to support the reform of local public administration, worth a total of 6.5 billion lei, reports IPN.
In a press conference, the Secretary General of the Government, Alexei Buzu, stated that the executive has decided to triple the development incentive in order to assist amalgamated communities in attracting larger investments and improving public services.
According to him, financial support will be provided through three mechanisms. Municipalities will be able to receive between 400 thousand and one million lei for the preparation of technical documentation, and the development incentive will reach the equivalent of 3 thousand lei for each inhabitant of the new administrative-territorial unit. In addition, during the period 2028-2030, the municipalities resulting from the amalgamation will benefit annually from amounts ranging between 500 thousand and two million lei to cover transition costs.
The funds will be able to be used for the expansion of water and sewerage networks, the rehabilitation of local roads, the modernization of public lighting, the increase in energy efficiency of public buildings, as well as for the development of educational, medical and social infrastructure.
“We are no longer talking about villages that need to survive, but about programs that develop communities. Through amalgamation, a community will have sufficient financial resources to implement and complete major projects, moving from a subsistence approach to one of real development”, emphasized Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Bolea, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development.
According to the data presented, approximately 85% of the country’s town halls have initiated the voluntary amalgamation process, and half of these have already adopted the final decisions in the local councils. Authorities urge town halls that have not completed the procedures to do so in August in order to benefit from the entire financing package.
