Secretary-General of Government explains how government wants to keep people in villages: services, jobs and stronger town halls

Government is preparing a broad reform of local and regional public administration, intended to speed up community development and improve citizens’ access to basic public services. Secretary-General of the Government Alexei Buzu provided details about the process at a TV show.

According to the official, the authorities aim to rethink how localities are administered, in the context of depopulation and the limited administrative capacity of many town halls.

 

Stronger, more accessible public services

Alexei Buzu explained that the reform primarily targets improving the quality of public services – from water and sewage to waste management, social services and road infrastructure.

“We want to accelerate development and bring more services to citizens in towns and villages. These services must be accessible, efficient and sustainable over time: water, sewage, waste management, social services, investment in roads, bridges and access routes,” he said.

The official stressed that the current administrative system, fragmented and insufficiently consolidated, makes infrastructure projects more expensive and harder to implement. In localities with a small and declining population, there is a risk that investments will not be sustainable and that the services created will deteriorate over time.

 

Consolidating town halls and new administrative tools

One of the solutions being examined by the Government is the reorganization and consolidation of town halls. Buzu noted that the current way local administrations operate was designed about 25 years ago and no longer matches current demographic and economic realities.

Data analyzed by the Government show that about 60% of town halls in the Republic of Moldova have fewer than 1,500 inhabitants and very small staff – in many cases only five employees: the mayor, the secretary, the accountant, the tax specialist and the cadastral engineer.

Under these conditions, mayors are forced to deal with day-to-day technical issues – equipment, lighting, networks – instead of focusing on development projects, attracting investment and managing complex procurement procedures.

“As long as mayors are busy with light bulbs, pumps or tractors and not with projects and resource mobilization, we will not achieve the level of development we want,” the Secretary-General of the Government said.

The government intends to provide local administrations with more tools, resources and professional teams so they can effectively solve community problems.

 

Amalgamating localities and setting a population threshold

The reform will also include a process of amalgamating town halls, meaning the administrative merger of some localities, especially where the population is small. The authorities are analyzing several scenarios, including setting a minimum population threshold for a town hall to exist, possibly between 1,500 and 5,000 inhabitants.

The final threshold will be set in law and applied after the 2027 local elections. If the population of a locality falls below the established limit, it will enter an amalgamation process, preferably voluntary, with elections to be held in the next electoral cycle.

The Government is counting on the voluntary participation of local authorities and on financial incentives for localities that accept administrative merger, so that they benefit from larger budgets, better-paid specialists and increased capacity to co-finance projects.

 

A broader reform than territorial reorganization

According to Alexei Buzu, the reform will not be limited to changing the administrative map, but will target the way town halls operate. Announced directions include digitizing services, improving relations with citizens and entrepreneurs, increasing staff competencies and adapting the administration to the standards of an EU candidate country.

 

Consultations with local authorities

The Secretary-General of the Government said that the reform is being discussed directly with local representatives. In recent weeks, representatives of the government have held consultations with over 2,500 people, mostly mayors and local representatives.

“We do not want a reform written in an office and imposed on mayors. We want them as partners and to understand together the risks and benefits,” Buzu said, noting that previous governments avoided implementing this reform because of its complexity and political risks.

The authorities consider that reorganizing local administration is essential for the economic development of villages, attracting businesses and creating jobs, the goal being to keep the population in rural communities and improve quality of life.