Nature Park Vitosha’s Director removed from duty – the government’s latest present to private interests

The law on forests, which was voted in the spring of 2011, requires that the directors of nature parks can be hired only by an open post competition. On the grounds of this law the Executive Forest Agency announced vacancy competitions for all nature parks director posts, which were already filled according to the old law, namely without such competition. As a result, the directors of the nature parks Vrachanski Balkan and Russenski Lom were reelected, and there is no decision about nature park Shumensko plato. The director’s post in Vitosha Nature Park was given to Sneshana Petrova, who had been working for the company “Agrolesproekt” before she candidated. Her previous job was to work out park zone development plans and protected area management plans, however she has no practical experience in working with such areas.
The coalition „For the nature“ believes that the Executive Forest Agency has given in to the pressure to allow construction in Vitosha Nature Park exerted by “Vitosha Ski”, a company connected to the banker Tseko Minev, as media publications suggest, and chairman of the Bulgarian Ski Federation.

At the moment, changes in the Law on Forests and several other laws are being prepared. These changes will grant private investors the right to build in state-owned forests in protected areas for an unlimited period, without entering a competition procedure and for small taxes. The forests will keep their status, but only on paper. This means that state-owned forests in protected areas, which constitute only 5 % of the country’s territory, will easily become cleared to make way for private skiing facilities. More than half of these areas lie in nature parks like Vitosha, which are also the most vulnerable ones.
The current legislation does not allow a larger skiing area in Vitosha Nature Park. It is only allowed to exchange old facilities with new ones under certain conditions. Such an attempt has been also supported by the coalition “For the nature” for a long time. However, the idea is to build a new, larger skiing area. The Vitosha Nature Park director’s post is a very important one, since this is exactly the person who must take a stand on the potential construction of new lower and upper ski lift stations and of other infrastructure in the bigger skiing area.
At the same time, the government tolerates the illegal robbing of 650 decares out of Pirin National Park for the enlargement of Bansko skiing area, which is 65 % more than the officially allowed area for this project, all of it being centuries-old conifer woods under UNESCO protection. Solely this year 3,6 Mio. Leva (approx. 1,8 Mio. Euro) of taxpayers’ money have been spent for arranging ski cups in this privately owned resort.

The coalition „For the nature“ will continue to inform all bulgarian citizens and the european institutions about the continuing efforts to allow private interests to gain unrestricted use of public goods, like the forests and the nature in Bulgaria.

[1"> The Black Peak- Vitosha’s highest summit

Translation: Elena Popova