RIGA, Dec 14 (LETA) - Next year will be a a year of reorganization for the municipality, Riga Mayor Martins Stakis (For Development/Progressives) said in an interview with the Diena newspaper.

The new Riga City Council has marked seven reorganizations planned for 2021. Among them, it is planned to establish an investment agency on the basis of the Riga Tourism Development Bureau. It is also planned to reorganize the construction board. It is also planned to reorganize the Riga Center for Combating Bureaucracy in order to transform it into a corruption prevention center, which would allow the local government to effectively detect possible violations.

"We are going to reorganize the executive directorates so that they would be closer to residents, so they would be like one-stop agencies. The Riga City Council Advisory Council is also planned to be set-up, so that the non-governmental sector could become involved decision-making," Stakis said.

He adds that it is also planned to establish a Rail Baltica planning department, so that the municipality can successfully utilize the opportunities related to the construction of the new railway.

Asked what the main jobs of the municipality will be in 2021, the politician answered that next year the largest budget increase will be in the social sphere, especially when it comes to salaries.

Also, "additional money has been won for the sphere of education, paying special attention to preschools". The municipality has thought about improving the quality of pre-school education. "Among other things, our main concern is to increase the salaries of those working in this field," Stakis told the newspaper.