UNMIK/PR/1397
PRISTINA - After consultations with the Government, the SRSG issued today Administrative Direction No 2005/11 on Pilot Projects Implementing UNMIK
Regulation No. 2000/45 on Self-Government of Municipalities in Kosovo. In a meeting with the SRSG yesterday, the Contact Group in Pristina broadly supported the issuance of the Administration Direction and emphasized the urgent need for the PISG to make rapid substantive progress on decentralization.
The Administrative Direction has been issued for the purpose of providing, in the context of the reform of local self- government, a basis for the establishment of pilot projects within existing municipal structures in Kosovo to test the setting up of new units of local self-government in the form of pilot projects. The administrative Direction provides for the establishment of five pilot municipal units within five existing municipalities, as envisaged in the 2005 Working Programme for the Reform of Local Government adopted by the Government, as follows:
(a) Junik/Junik within the municipality of Deçan/Decane;
(b) Partesh/Parteš within the municipality of Gjilan/Gnjilane;
(c) Hani i Elezit/Ðeneral Jankovic within the municipality of Kaçanik/Kacanik ;
(d) Graçanicë/Gracanica within the municipality of Prishtinë/Priština ; and
(e) Mamushë/Mamuša within the municipality of Prizren/Prizren.
Implementation of the Pilot Municipal Units, which may include one or more cadastral zones, will be carried out in a phased manner. The territorial delineation of each Pilot Municipal Unit shall be determined by the SRSG, based on recommendation of the Minister of Local Government Administration, and set out in an Executive Decision to be issued prior to the actual commencement of each Pilot project involving the particular Pilot Municipal Unit being phased in.
Provisional Assemblies in Pilot Municipal Units shall be appointed by the SRSG upon the nomination by the Minister following a selection process which shall be designed to take fully into account views of residents of the areas concerned. The Administrative Direction contains provisions on operation and competencies of Pilot Municipal Units which are subject to all laws applicable in Kosovo.
Supervision of Municipal Pilot Units is to be exercised by the Ministry of Local Government Administration in coordination with UNMIK.
The Administrative Direction enters into force today and will remain in effect until the date of the 2006 Municipal Elections.
The kick-off of Pilot Municipal Units represents a concrete step forward in the reform of Local Government in Kosovo. It sets the stage for the Government's honouring its commitment to implement Pilot Projects as "test cases" for good governance at the local level and outreach to the Kosovo communities concerned.