The Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (hereinafter - the Committee) approved the recommendations of the on-site committee hearings on "Topical issues of management of engineering infrastructure facilities of reclamation systems", which took place on August 19, 2023 in Izmail.

In its recommendations, the Committee took into account all proposals from the participants of the Second Melioration Forum and a joint appeal from the WUOs, initiated by the UAC.

Taking into account that the State Agency of Water Resources has been sabotaging the implementation of the Law of Ukraine "On Land Reclamation" for more than a year, the Committee recommended that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine instruct the Ministry of Environment and the State Agency of Water Resources to complete the transfer of all reclamation systems without exception to the State Agency of Land Reclamation and Fisheries within a month, with their subsequent transfer to the WUO.

The transfer of these systems to the WUO is the only chance to fight corruption in the field of reclamation and give impetus to the development of irrigation in Ukraine. This means transferring reclamation systems to the management of water users: farmers, local government representatives and the industry.

Water users are the ones who are most interested in stopping water theft, reducing water losses, implementing energy saving measures, and ensuring further development of reclamation systems.

The Committee also paid special attention to the need to launch the second stage of the irrigation and drainage reform - to adopt as soon as possible the draft Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts on Improving the Management System of Engineering Infrastructure of State-Owned Land Reclamation Systems" (as of July 21, 2022, Reg. No. 7577).

The implementation of the draft law will make it possible to: involve all interested water users from the agricultural and industrial sectors, as well as utilities and organizations that use the services of the reclamation system, through the inclusion of their representatives in the supervisory boards of operators; introduce a unified approach to the formation of tariffs related to water supply for irrigation and water drainage for needs; attract investments for the modernization and restoration of reclamation infrastructure.

On behalf of the UAC, we express our gratitude to the Members of Parliament for their systematic support of the reclamation reform, which is critical for the restoration and development of the domestic agro-industrial complex.

We call on the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to fulfill the requirements of the Law of Ukraine "On Land Reclamation", as well as to implement all the recommendations of the Agrarian Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as soon as possible!