The municipality in southern Turkey's Gaziantep province has rolled up its sleeves to go through a transition for a more environment-friendly, participatory, citizen-oriented and transparent governance system, similar to the presidential governmental system adopted after the April 2017 referendum.

"The Metropolitan Municipality will be transformed into a service-oriented, economical and more accessible structure," the re-elected Mayor of Gaziantep Fatma Şahin said in a written statement issued on Tuesday.

Noting that the new system will prioritize the satisfaction of the inhabitants in line with her party, the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) election motto, Şahin underscored that some of the municipal bodies will be downsized to achieve a more productive, effective and quickly responding structure.

Accordingly, assistant secretary general positions were removed in the municipality while municipal departments were reduced from 28 to 18 and directorates under the municipal departments were decreased from 98 to 69. This reduction is expected to save 30 percent from the official vehicle and fuel budget while introducing more prompt and effective service and the increased competitiveness of the municipality. Şahin pointed out that this system will be the first local implementation of the presidential governmental system which also decreased the number of ministries from 21 to 16 with the aim of preventing bureaucratic oligarchy and sluggishness. Şahin stressed that political committees will be set up within the framework of the municipality to gather the opinions of inhabitants on how to govern the municipality. She added that turning Gaziantep into a smart city with plenty of innovation and research and development (R&D) is among the plans from the municipality in order to keep pace with the technological world.