Today, November 24, in Lviv, at a meeting of the steering committee, which includes representatives of all communities, authorities and experts, the Development Strategy of the potential Lviv agglomeration was agreed upon. Its main idea is to unite for the sake of opportunities. Experts of the Council of Europe have been working on the document together with the communities and under the coordination of Lviv OVA since last year. Therefore, now the Lviv agglomeration should become the first such association in Ukraine. And in the future – a model for the development of other metropolitan areas of our country, following the example of the EU and NATO countries.
As Lyubomyr Zubach, deputy mayor for urban planning, noted, at the legislative level, the state defines and recognizes seven agglomerations as interesting for development. Lviv is one of them. And currently, it is the first that has already developed, discussed and approved the Development Strategy.
Therefore, the next step should be the creation of the appropriate Association of local self-government bodies, which will be a platform for the implementation of future joint projects. Mayor Andriy Sadovy proposed to consider this issue next week during the Local Self-Government Forum in Lviv. “It is good that our region shows an example during the war. Now we have to promote as much as possible all positive ideas that will be implemented through concrete projects. If we are united in one agglomeration, we will get more opportunities,” Andriy Sadovy stressed.
The head of the Department of Democracy and Governance of the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe, Daniel Popescu, expressed the hope that the efforts to create the Lviv agglomeration will serve as an example and inspire other potential metropolises in Ukraine.
As a reminder, the Lviv agglomeration should include the city of Lviv and 17 neighboring communities. The city council notes that such an association is mutually beneficial for everyone. After all, we are talking about the possibility of obtaining additional state funding and European grid funds for the implementation of inter-municipal projects. Which, in turn, will help improve the quality and comfort of living for residents of all communities. First of all, we are talking about transport, waste management, environmental projects, spatial planning, water supply and drainage, etc. Also, the creation of an agglomeration is important in the context of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
As the consultant of the Council of Europe Program “Strengthening good democratic governance and stability in Ukraine” Myroslav Koshelyuk noted, already at this stage within the Strategy, 24 ideas of inter-municipal projects have been worked out, which can be worked out and implemented. “These are different projects. Among them there are those that are already at the initial stage of implementation. It is about the construction of bicycle paths. The three communities united, turned to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and bicycle infrastructure should be built along the Lviv – Rava-Ruska route. Also, the issue of cleaning the Shchyretsky Reservoir is already being worked out. It is very important to start this cooperation. And when the first projects are implemented, both our residents and the country in general will understand why agglomerations are needed. Also, such associations will play a key role in the future reconstruction of Ukraine,” noted Myroslav Koshelyuk.
We will remind you that the project of the Development Strategy of the potential Lviv agglomeration until 2027 was presented and posted on the website of the Lviv Regional Military Administration more than a month ago.