The Ecominister determines the destiny of Pirin National Park according to the ideas pursued by Bansko municipality and the concessioner Yulen JSC

It became clear that the ecominister Yulian Popov has already put to operation the co-ordinating procedure concerning the decision of the Supreme expert ecological council to satisfy the wish of Bansko municipality for changes in the Management Plan of Pirin NP.

“ We insist that Yulian Popov cancels the decision of Nona Karadjova to change the Management Plan of Pirin NP and to return those changes back to Bansko municipality for further ecological and compatibility assessment, in order to comply with the law”- announced the conservationists

A legal analysis which consisted of two and a half pages prepared by the Ecoministry and an outside consultant juridical firms was shown during the meeting. It repeats the statement of the concessioner that there are unclear points in the concession contract. It is disappointing, that after 2 years of arguments and payments to outside consultants it becomes clear that the main problem – how much does Yulen JSC uses from the territory of Pirin NP is not discussed. All participants entered into an engagement to present their own data and maps, in order to give us data on how much territory is being used by the concessioner.This information will be presented on the next meeting.

“The concession contract is absolutely clear” - is stated by the coalition “Let nature remain in Bulgaria”. The area under concession is limited to the area of 99.55 ha. There is a Structural Plan of the territory of Bansko ski zone elaborated in 2001 by the concessioner. It clearly defines the territory under concession, which is allowed to be used by Yulen JSC. The contract is signed by Yulen and by the Ecoministry in 2001. This same people, who prepared it, came to the meeting and claimed that there are unclear points and instead of this fact they have allowed and still allow new construction sites in Pirin NP.

“The manipulations that the concession contract is unclear are done by those, who are interested in hiding the existing violations of the law'', warn us the conservationists. Those violations include the construction of ski tracks, lifts and facilities, that are not included in the concession.

The coalition “Let nature remain in Bulgaria” reminds to the ecominister that he still has choice to comply with the law and to cease the procedure for changes in the Management Plan of Pirin NP requested by Bansko municipality. We want him to show us all the official reports of MEW and consultants in terms of the control imposed on the application of the concession contract. We want the minister to stop trusting his employees, who have participated in these violations through the years.

During the meeting, we from“Let nature remain in Bulgaria” once again declared our position, that the Management Plan of Pirin NP must not be changed until the problem concerning the areas and the payments owed by the concessioner become resolved, otherwise this will make the situation with the unclear points worse and it will make more difficult the solving of the accumulated problems in the past decades.

Additional information

Public analyses, documents and decisions of competent authorities inform us about serious violations done while applying the concession contract of Bansko ski zone. You can also check our position for today's meeting on this website: http://forthenature.org/documents/category/27