Municipality of Oliveira do Hospital creates “Citizen Space” in parishes: Gazeta Rural

The Municipality of Oliveira do Hospital will this year install the “Citizen Space” in six parishes of the municipality, thus making it possible for citizens to access a service point that brings together different entities at a single counter and numerous services from the central, local and of private entities that provide services of public interest.

As stated this month by the President of the City Council, José Francisco Rolo, at a council executive meeting, these new spaces have already been validated by the Agency for Administrative Modernization (AMA), and the training process for mediators/coordinators has also been completed.

In the Municipality of Oliveira do Hospital, the installation of “Citizen Spaces” is planned in fifteen parishes, but the first to move forward, as they comply with a whole set of requirements demanded by the AMA, will be those in the parishes of Lagares da Beira, Lourosa, Meruge, Nogueira do Cravo, Penalva de Alva and São Sebastião da Feira and Travanca de Lagos.

Regarding the remaining “Citizen Spaces” being prepared to open in a second phase, the mayor explains that some are in the process of adjusting to the conditions required by AMA and others are undergoing prior study regarding adaptation works. But they will receive due support and open doors, as they are validated by the AMA, assures the mayor.

The arrival of “Espaço Cidadão” to the parishes is the result of a protocol signed, in 2023, between AMA and the Municipality of Oliveira do Hospital, which resulted in the opening of that important service point, in February last year, at the counter of the City Council.

In the space of approximately one year, around two thousand services have already been provided.

For the Mayor, the expansion of the “Citizen Space” network is a project that aims to value the role of parishes, which will thus have the possibility of offering a whole set of decentralized services, and with greater proximity, in a to prevent citizens from traveling to the municipality headquarters.

It is another commitment by the City Council to modernization and digital transition, highlights José Francisco Rolo, stressing that “the “Citizen Spaces” bring great benefits to citizens, in terms of reducing bureaucracy and saving useful time, therefore constituting a way to enhance the harmonious development of the municipality.

We are taking a very important step to bring public services closer to citizens, in the logic of having increasingly autonomous local power, the mayor also says, without forgetting that the Parish Councils and Parish Unions are taken over by the City Council as fundamental partners for the development of the municipality.