Due to the state support of regional development, namely the State Fund for Regional Development (SFRR) and subvention for amalgamated hromadas, 2.8 thousand infrastructure projects have been implemented in the regions this year and it is now possible to speak about the emergence of a new quality of education, infrastructure, healthcare and social security in hromadas and rural areas, Hennadii Zubko, Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, told the 5^th Channel.

“We have to talk about the regional policy in terms of opportunities. 31% of Ukrainian citizens live in rural areas, therefore we need to create conditions to keep and develop this human potential. Rural territories give the largest gross product, which is further converted into currency revenues of the country,” said Hennadii Zubko.

He informed that the state support of regional development will amount in 2018 to UAH 18.5 billion, whereas in 2014 it was only UAH 500 million.

“Revival of infrastructure can keep people in the countryside and engage them in economic processes. The state motivates rural areas by investing in the regional growth through the SFRR, subventions for AHs, for socio-economic development and other programmes. At the same time, hromadas should pay greatest attention to own revenues of the local budgets, that have currently reached UAH 173.5 billion. These are the opportunities for realisation of the strategies of territorial development and projects’ implementation,” noted Hennadii Zubko.

“We are no longer talking only about the number of facilities. We are concerned about the quality of services delivered to people, namely hub schools, new out-patient clinics, roads and their lighting, pre-school educational institutions,” stressed the official.

We remind that about 800 investment regional development projects within the framework of the State Fund for Regional Development in the amount of UAH 3.5 billion have been implemented in 2017. As part of the subvention for AH infrastructure development, over 2000 projects worth of almost UAH 1.5 billion have been implemented.