Syrian Cabinet Discusses in Special Session the New Draft Law of Local Administration

The government on Saturday held a session chaired by Prime Minister Adel Safar to discuss the new draft law of local administration.

During the meeting, the ministers discussed in detail the 163 articles of the law and presented proposals to enrich the draft law.

Almost all the proposals focused on the role of the local councils, the executive offices and mechanisms of their work and tasks.

In view of the meeting, a ministerial committee was formed to study the notes and proposals for the new draft law and to identify what could be possibly taken to be presented in the next ministerial session due to be held in ten days.

The draft law aims at:

1- Developing the institutional structure through finding qualitative local administrations and simplifying the administrative structure through dividing the administrative units into three levels (province, city, town).

2- Boosting decentralization through electing a head of the local council by the councils’ members.

3- Enabling local authorities to form or take part in partnerships with public or private bodies. 4- Boosting supervision through popular and official supervision.

5- Boosting administrative units’ financial incomes.

6- Defining the Ministry’s tasks in scope of local councils’ work and their executive offices.

7- Establishing offices for citizen service at the local units.

8- Establishing the Higher Council for Local Administration.