DILI, 19 september 2023 (TATOLI) – The government of Timor-Leste, through the Council of Ministers, has approved the fourth amendment to Law 11/2009 of 7 October, which approved the Administrative Division of the Territory.
The proposal was presented by the Minister of State Administration, Tomás do Rosário Cabral.
According to the Minister for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Agio Pereira, as set out in the Government Program, the aim of the amendment of the law is to extinguish the municipality of Ataúro and create a first-level administrative division, called “Ataúro”, following the definition in Article 5 of the Constitution, which states that Ataúro enjoys special administrative and economic treatment.
“We are also removing the reference to villages (sucos) as part of the administrative divisions since the sucos are entities associated with the Autonomous Administration and are not part of the administrative division of the territory,” said Minister Pereira at the Government Palace in Dili.
With this amendment of the law, the national territory now includes the Oé-Cusse Ambeno Special Administrative Region, the Ataúro First Level Administrative Region, and the municipalities of Aileu, Ainaro, Baucau, Bobonaro, Covalima, Díli, Ermera, Lautém, Liquiçá, Manatuto, Manufahi and Viqueque.
Minister Cabral revealed that changing Ataúro’s status is part of one of the Executive’s programs, so with this approval, Ataúro will be under the supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office.
“We regret the previous government’s decision to create the new municipality of Ataúro. In fact, due to a lack of infrastructure, its administrative service was centered in Dili. With this approval, all the work will be concentrated in Ataúro,” he concluded.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
