Mountain Under Construction

Source: Kapital Newspaper
We ascend slowly along the decrepit road. Right after the turn for the resort Panichishte we stumble upon construction works – the road has been widened with a few meters, and the slope has been visibly lowered. We reach the small parking area above Pionerska Chalet where the path to the Seven Rila Lakes begins. A couple of heavyweight construction machines are parked there instead of tourists’ cars. To the left of the lower part of the humble ski drag (that works with a lunch break) the slope has been undermined. A bit higher, you can see an open space cut through the forest, there is a brand new concrete foundation at its end – the foundation on which a metal pillar for the future lift will be positioned.

In front of our eyes is the Super Panichishte project above Sapareva Banya. On Wednesday, it prompted an improvised eco-protest that blocked Rakovski Street for more than an hour. The main investor in Super Panichishte is the company “Rila Sport” which plans to build 20 ski facilities. The future ski slopes are supposed to start from the mountain’s ridge above the Seven Rila Lakes. And although they are in their initial phase, the construction plans already aroused serious suspicions of their full conformity with the laws.

We’re back in Rila and continue our ascent along the ski road. “Off to the mountain” – that’s the cries three workers sitting around a concrete block greet us with. They willingly tell us about their work – the new rope-way. It will start at the parking lot and will end at the Rila Lakes Chalet. 23 metal pillars which will hold the rope will be erected within a month. According to friends of nature, many trees have been cut during the laying of the foundations. Service roads within the Park’s boundaries used by heavyweight machines to reach the concrete foundations of the pillars have also been blazed. Both things are true – we see it with our eyes. “Everything will be restored”, the workers say, meaning the cut trees. “No trees have been cut during the laying of the foundations”, Slaveyko Staykov, CEO of the investor “Rila Sport”, counterattacked a couple of days later in Sofia. His comment: “Trees have been cut only at the very beginning when the construction of the lift initially started”. He is positive that when the installation of facilities begins an assessment will be made whether “some trees need to be cut”, but this will happen following “due procedures”. We ask him about something else that disturbs ecologists – the construction is illegal because there’s no concession granted for the lift. According to Slaveyko Staykov that is “not necessary because there is a permit for the lift issued ten years ago when this territory hadn’t yet been declared a national park”. He however overlooks the fact that 10 years ago, when the municipality received the right to use the forest resources, it subjected itself to the condition that it won’t concede that right (see the infobox). Let’s go back to Rila. We continue the ascent. A couple of minutes later we cross ways with a concrete carrier that quickly descends along the ski path’s curves. That reminds me of how last winter the Park’s guard drew up a statement against a group of alpinists for “unregulated activity in a protected area” – they had gone to climb the frozen Skakavitsa waterfall. The insanity is complete when a little higher we see a sign saying that along the same road “the movement and parking of cars, sledge-cars and other equipment is prohibited”. We are almost at the Rila Lakes Chalet. A giant excavator emerges from the fog. That’s where the upper station of the lift will be. A lonely worker greets us with a smile. “They pay well”, he tells us and over-excitedly talks about the mayor of Sapareva Banya, “it’s high time that things got a bit shaken up, that some life was breathed into these chalets.” Some hundred meters below us a concrete carrier has parked right on the road. We descend there. Three workers are getting ready to pour concrete around a fixture scaffold. That’s the penultimate pillar of the lift. We photograph the workers who are careful not to talk too much. In less than half an hour we head back for the valley. An empty red truck overtakes us at one of the ski road’s serpentines.

We tried to get an answer as to whether all these machines have the permits cited on the sign from the directorate of Rila National Park. Such an answer we didn’t get, the Park redirected us to the environment ministry, which refused to comment. Sapareva Banya’s mayor Sasho Ivanov, who is on annual leave, was also not found for comment.

We go back to the parking-construction site. There are some workers around. The initial phase of “Super Panichishte” leaves ambiguous feelings. Two days later Slaveyko Staykov would explain that the current construction works are not part of the major project “Panichishte-the Lakes-Kabul Peak”. He claims that the project will be developed later on when “a comprehensive development plan is worked out and concession is requested for the territories that fall within the boundaries of the park and where only ski facilities will be positioned.” The project idea note is prepared by the Canadian company Ecosign (known for its work in several resorts in the Alps and North America), and the comprehensive development plan is being prepared by the Bulgarian company “Ivis” (which authored the projects for Bansko’s ski zone). The accommodation places will be located in the Panichishte region outside the boundaries of the Park.

As of today however the project for a ski zone above Rila Lakes Chalet is nothing more than a plan without a permit. In the beginning of 2005, Sapareva Banya Municipality filed a comprehensive development plan with the Regional Inspectorate for Environment and Waters – Sofia that envisages the construction of a tourist and ski center “Panichishte-the Lakes-Kabul”. The procedure didn’t start because the Sofia inspectorate concluded that the plan is in conflict with the legislative framework. According to the Ministry of Environment, no new requests for the same resort have been filed since that correspondence.

Realistically speaking, it wouldn’t be that scary if Rila came by another ski resort. Of course, the sorrowful example of Bansko shouldn’t be repeated. The construction of a new resort must also proceed only after a public discussion, abiding by all provisions of the law, and minimal impact on the environment. Regretfully, though, the construction of “Super Panichishte” leaves serious doubts with its very first steps.

The Contentious Lift
In 1997, National Forests Directorate conceded to Sapareva Banya Municipality the right to use 17 decare of Rila National Park.

A rope-way was supposed to be built there. It is explicitly pointed out that the municipality is obliged to keep the ownership rights for the lift and not to cede these. Four years later, the company “Atomik Invest” was founded in order to build the lift. At that point, the cutting in the forest was made for the lift and the foundations for the pillars were erected. The municipality holds a minority block of shares of “Atomik Invest”, the other shareholders are two companies from Dupnitsa and Pernik. That same year, the National Audit Office audited the municipality and was openly critical of the company’s contract because it didn’t guarantee that the rights to the construction of the lift won’t be ceded to somebody else. In 2004, “Rila Sport” bought off the shares of the two companies in “Atomik Invest”. The new partnership contract made it clear that “Rila Sport” commits itself to ensure the investments, whereas the municipality is entrusted with providing the necessary permits which should be with the “longest validity period possible”. In 2005, it became clear that the lift’s construction is of poor quality and it has to be built from scratch again.

The Road – Along the Edges of the Park and of the Law
The widened road between Panichishte and Pionerska Chalet encroaches in the Park’s boundaries. That’s clear from the documentation we were given by Katerina Rakovska (from the Bulgarian branch of the worldwide nature protection organization WWF). The documents show that in May 2006 Sapareva Banya Municipality requested from the Ministry of Ecology to endorse the undertaking. The then-director of Rila National Park Vasil Petrov opined that cutting the slope short will lead to encroaching in the park and taking away almost 6 decare of forest. According to him, the project needs an environmental impact assessment. Such hasn’t been prepared until now although the reconstruction is almost complete.

Who is behind “Super Panichishte”?
The main investor in the “Super Panichishte” project is “Rila Sport”. It is owned by the off-shore company Rylstone Trading. “Rila Sport” owns “Rila Sport Hotels”, which will invest in the resort’s accommodation. Executive director of “Rila Sport” is Slaveyko Staykov – ex-chairman of the board of directors of Bulgarian Maritime Fleet. The company is also managed by attorney Dobromira Teneva-Tosheva (official representative of Rylstone Trading) and her colleague Tihomir Trendafilov (also member of the management of Kapitalbank which is being liquidated).