Christmas bells conveniently silenced piles of unresolved issues in Bulgaria and its rulers fled to attend official ceremonies. The opening of the winter ski season in Bansko gathered quite a lot of ministers. And nothing in their behaviour demonstrated they were worried by the fact that for months they had not given an answer to any one of the vital issues surrounding the development of the ski resort there.
More clout to the event was given by some of the brightest stars of world ski elite – Alberto Tomba, Marc Girardelli, Luc Alphand, Jure Kosir and Peter Popangelov who attended the opening.
Government representatives listened carefully Mayor of Bankso Georgi Ikonomov, who announced that this year Bansko welcomes the ski season with just another instance of recognition for its potential. After the title The Winter Capital of the Balkans in the prestigious world ranking, announced at a special ceremony in Kitzbuehel, Austria, the city was named the best winter resort of the year in Bulgaria. Thus it ranked among the top 20 in the world. Simultaneously, the world media made ??this news available to over 100 million people in the world, proudly announced Mr. Ikonomov.
The most pressing problem is the construction of a second ski run in the resort, but permission for it can be obtained as early as… 2015, it became clear from the words of the Minister of Environment and Water, Iskra Mihaylova. The reason is that it is not yet known when it a new management plan for the National Park Pirin will be updated and adopted. The Council of Ministers has failed to come to this decision, although there the current plan is more than 10 years old and no longer meets the needs of the resort. Mihaylova did not make it secret that there is no money for its preparation and this can only be done through the Operational Programme Environment. Which means that the implementation period will not be less than two years…
In the meantime, the battle between the green movement and the state as to which construction here is legal and which is not, has been continuing. A week ago, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Administrative Court quashed the, previously, final decision, through which a lift in the plateau over Bansko ski area was recognized as illegal. The court returned the case for retrial in a three-member panel endash i.e. it begins anew and will have to climb up the juridical ladder until it reaches the Supreme Judges again.
In 2010, when the Association of Parks in Bulgaria appealed against the decision of the Minister of Environment and Water who had stated that the investment project of the concessionaire of the lift tracks – the Yulen company for replacement of the old lifts on the plateau with a new four-seat lift did not need environmental assessment, nor compatibility assessment with Natura 2000. The Court dismissed the appeal in February 2011, but months later, in July, the second instance quashed the appeal and returned it for re-assessment to a three-judge panel and the work began again.
Meanwhile, in the summer of 2012, protests erupted, triggered by amendments to the Forest Act, which authorize the construction of ski runs, lifts and tows, without regulating changes in the use of land status. Several days later, the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO issued a report in which acutely criticized the lack of transparency of management decisions in the National Park Pirin and opposed the intention for making new ski facilities within the site. The report noted that lifts built in 2010 in Bansko ski area were approved by the Ministry of Environment and Water in violation of national laws. In September 2012, Parliament amended the Concessions Act.
As a result of this document the Environment Ministry set up an expert working groups that started to write… reports. Opinions were also submitted by experts from the Ministry of Regional Development (in their function of representing the state ownership) as well as of two directorates within the Council of Ministers dealing with concessions and investment programmes. Own opinions were announced by several other ministries, including the one of sports and healthcare. Still there is no official statement of the Ministry of Investment Planning that will have to make it clear whether there is a match between the spatial plan that was used when the concession contract was signed and the electronic mapping of territory carried out in 2010.
The BANKER
