Cahul Municipality Develops an Urban Revitalization Program

The Cahul Mayoralty have decided to launch in the competition for a modern, European- standards based locality, being aware that it will be able to solve, first of all, social problems in the urban crisis area. The local public authorities hope that the active involvement of the citizens in identifying local problems, prioritizing them and elaborating the Urban Revitalization Program, then the implementation of new projects, will essentially develop and increase the civic spirit and responsibility of community members.

Thus, the Coordination Committee for elaborating the Urban Revitalization Program of Cahul Municipality, met on Friday, July 19, to discuss the steps that have been taken and the activities to be to be undertaken to mobilize community members and collect the data needed to identify the most degraded area of the city that needs to be revitalized. The members of the committee are representatives of the local public administration,  public institutions and specialists from the Regional Development Agency (RDA) South, including facilitators and other stakeholders.

Mr Dionis Guglea, specialist in construction and urban development within Cahul Mayoralty, is designated as responsible for Urban Revitalization, including elaboration of the Program. He mentioned that the first steps have already been undertaken and that, in the following, the entire city is to be involved in a complex process of work, which starts with the elaboration of the Urban Revitalization Program.

There were presented several options of delimitation of the city by areas. The members of the Coordination Committee analyzed them  and came up with some recommendations regarding the delimitation of the areas according to the principles described in Guidelines on Urban Revitalization in the Republic of Moldova, elaborated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment (MADRM) with the support of Polish experts.

The procedure for collecting the evaluation indicators and which of them might be the most relevant in the sense that they reflect the real social situation have been discussed. In this connection, Mr Vasile Sidor, as representative of Cimișlia Mayoralty, and facilitator, told about the town's experience in elaboration of the Urban Revitalization Program and highlighted some recommendations.

The participants at the meeting also discussed about the interventions in the urban area by direct involvement of the citizens - the process and the program being designed according to the needs of the citizens. Also, the Consultative Committee was set up to discuss and identify realistic problems of the revitalization area, to formulate and prioritize the revitalization needs, to identify the potential for development of the area, plan project ideas, discuss and consult the Program of Urban Revitalization, initiate and actively get involved in urban revitalization actions.

It is important to note that the efforts of the local public administration in achieving the urban revitalization objectives are supported by the specialists of the Regional Development Agency South (RDA), involved in the process, but also by the representatives of the mayoralties of the towns that have previously received technical and financial support from Poland and which, at the moment, involve as facilitators. Due to this, Mrs Oxana Cazacu, the head of the Regional Policy and External Cooperation Department within the RDA South, presented the concept of Urban Revitalization and spoke about the benefits of the project, but also about the steps to be undertaken by the authorities to reach the set objectives. According to her, the Cahul Municipality Revitalization Program will be an instrument of sustainable urban development, which contains a set of actions to be taken over an area, for a fixed period from 3 to 5 years. Their final purpose is the revival of an unvalued and disadvantaged area and solving in a complex and participatory way some important problems of the municipality, which will contribute to the harmonious development of the locality.

It worth mentioning that Cahul Mayoralty is the beneficiary of the project "Support for Moldovan administration in the implementation of the National Strategy for Regional Development in Moldova 2016-2020 in the field of urban policy and urban development", implemented by the Ministry of Investment and Economic Development of the Republic of Poland in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture , Regional Development and Environment of the Republic of Moldova and the Representation of the Foundation "Fundacja Solidarności Międzynarodowej" in the Republic of Moldova. By implementing this project, the municipality of Cahul benefits from support, including facilitating the process of elaborating the Urban Revitalization Program (URP) and implementing the urban revitalization tools.

The article is part of a series of activities implemented in the context of promoting the Urban Revitalization approach in the Republic of Moldova with the support of the Polish Aid programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.