Damascus-SANA
The outcomes of the interaction with the elections of local councils and administrative units (which will take place on the 18th of this month) by several community bodies raised some questions about the non-service roles of these councils, the most important of which is the developmental role that contributes to the development of the administrative unit in partnership with the local community.
Dr. in economics, Ayham Asad, and the consultant expert in local development, explained that Law 107 on administrative councils gave development powers to local councils that were not present in the old law 15. By comparing the two laws, there are clear statements referring to transforming the role of local councils from service to development, giving them the powers to draw up a local development plan And partnership with the local community, the exploitation of local resources, the authority to research, and the enhancement of local revenues and local financial resources, which means that he granted them the triangle of local development consisting of decentralization, participatory and local financing.
Asad stressed that the elements of the development triangle exist in some way, but they need to be activated, as the transfer of powers and competencies related to decentralization has not been completed completely, and the reason is that the national plan for decentralization has not yet been issued. Refers to transferring part of the revenues of the local councils to the account of the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment, and this hinders the financial capacity of the councils, indicating that the local councils do not have a clear vision of local development planning or participatory planning with the local community. This contradicts the participatory development vision in which the local council is part of the development plan and not all of its work in partnership with the local community.
As for the reasons for the inability of local councils to benefit from the advantages of this law and exercise their developmental roles, Asad stated that Law 107 lacks executive instructions regarding the proposed new social formations, such as the local development committees, as they were mentioned in the law without explanations for the mechanism of their formation, the way they work, and the form of their connection with the local community, pointing to Most of the members of local councils are not familiar with the local administration law in which they were elected and formed their local councils, stressing that the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment, in cooperation with international organizations, sought to develop the work of local councils.
Regarding the developmental role of the local councils that will be elected on the 18th of September of this month, Assad stressed that the developmental role of the local councils is important, especially in the reconstruction process, where local councils, governmental and non-governmental institutions, international organizations, commercial and industrial activities, and members of the local community are formed with their customs, traditions, values, norms and skills. And their professions are strength factors in the localities that need to be reconstructed.
Regarding the lack of executive instructions for some of the committees approved by Law 107, Dr. Sinan Ammar, the Scientific Representative for Scientific Affairs at the College of Law, explained that the development committees in the local councils and other similar committees did not take enough attention and this is due to the shortening of the local councils, as the law has named these descriptions. for the committees and drawing their general lines and leaving the freedom to the local councils to put the fine details for them without framing them. .
Yousef Al Haider
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