A hearing session for the Al-Maghazi municipality entitled "The municipality and the citizen: reality and ambition"
Gaza, Publication and Information Unit
4/4/2021 The Palestinian Center for Democracy ……
The session included a presentation given by the municipality that dealt in the main with the nature of the municipality's financial position and the volume of resources available to it, the services the municipality provided during the last war on the Gaza Strip, the working mechanism for reconstruction, and the extent of citizens' response and commitment.
That was followed by opening the floor for discussion and questions from those present, where citizens asked about the reasons behind the failure to complete a number of planned projects, foremost among them the paving of a number of streets, the state of cleanliness, the random dumping sites and the fight against health hazards and harmful insects, and the working mechanism for surveying damage.
The head of the Al-Maghazi municipality confirmed that the coming period will witness the carrying out of a number of projects, particularly regarding the paving of streets, where the necessary announcements have been published in this respect. He noted that the municipality did not stop working during the war period, but that some services were affected by the occupation, such as the water service, because of damage to some wells near the security fence, and that the municipality is looking into the possibility of finding alternative wells in safer areas.
He noted the existence of financial straits at the municipality because of the scarcity of financial resources, the failure of citizens who are able to pay what they owe the municipality, in addition to the agency's failure to carry out the role assigned to it, particularly regarding cleanliness, and the absence of permanent cleaning workers at the municipality.
Raed Saada, coordinator of the social accountability project, said that this session strengthens transparency and dialogue between citizens and decision-makers in the local bodies, and is one of the social accountability tools that fall within the activities of the project for strengthening social accountability mechanisms in the Al-Maghazi municipality, which the Centre carries out with funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development BMZ, and with the support of the German Agency for International Cooperation GIZ.
