On March 11, at the meeting of the Village Council, its members adopted the Programme of Comprehensive Recovery of the Territory of the Mezhova Urban Municipality for 2023–2027. This document passed all the necessary approvals and public discussions and is in line with the Methodology of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted in 2023.
“Our municipality was the first to make an entry about the start of work on the Recovery Programme in the state register. Today, we are the first municipality in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and among the first in Ukraine to have such a document. On Tuesday, March 12, I spoke about our Recovery Plan at a meeting of the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine,” said Volodymyr Zrazhevskyi, head of the village of Mezhova.
He also stated that at the presentation, he had received an offer to present the Recovery Programme at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, to be held on June 11–12 in Berlin.
According to Volodymyr Zrazhevskyi, they have been working on the document for almost a year. They went in almost blindly, focusing on their own experience and knowledge. Then they used methodological recommendations and consulted experts and relevant professionals. After all, they understood the need to attract investments in infrastructure and the economy in order to enable the reconstruction and development of the municipality.
Before the full-scale invasion, the municipality lacked significant resources for intensive development, and the war only aggravated economic problems — at both the state and local budget levels. The municipality is basically on the front line, suffering from enemy shelling.
“The Comprehensive Recovery Programme is not an urban planning document or an action plan but a strategic document. It is a short-term programme that guides the economic development of the municipality in war and post-war times, and it is a must for attracting investment. For example, under the Ukraine Facility Programme, which provides financing for Ukraine for EUR 50 billion. Our experience of developing the Mezhova Municipal Development Strategy in 2018 with the support of U-LEAD with Europe came in handy here. In fact, we then laid the foundation, upon which we later built the current recovery programme,” said Mr Zrazhevskyi.
The head of the municipality firmly believes that this programme will help attract funds to the municipality for reconstruction, construction and restoration of social and road infrastructure as well as the economy. The document covers housing construction, social infrastructure (health care facilities, education and cultural institutions), road construction (T-0406, T-0428, etc.), environment protection (landfill, sewage treatment plants, water supply, preservation of nature reserves), safety measures (construction of bomb shelters, establishment of fire services in remote settlements), preservation of architecture and historical landmarks, etc.
The head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Olena Tertyshna noted:
“The Mezhova municipality is a great example that we must start thinking about the reconstruction and recovery of our territory now. The role of the leader and their team is important here, as they strive for change together, learn and acquire new knowledge and see prospects for the recovery and development of their territory.”
Photo: Oleksandra Azarkhina during the transfer of the historic Programme of Comprehensive Recovery of the Territory of the Mezhova Urban Municipality, the first of its kind in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.