Environmentalists: The agreement for the ski zone Bansko is a hostage of the state idleness

The environmentalists welcome the possibility for a discussion in search for optimal solution, but cautioned that it is not even clear for which of the many question a solution is sought for. Shortly before the beginning of the meeting, an agenda was not proposed. On one hand, the Prime Minister and the Ministers of tourism and of the sport point relate the amendment of the contract for concession to the ski tourism and the construction of a second ski lift, while for the latter there’s no established project yet.

On the other hand, the Bulgarian Olympic Committee, representatives from the municipality of Bansko and local entrepreneurs (among which also Vladimir Karolev) insist on the developing the area further by building new ski zones in Pirin.
The Minister of ecology Ivelina Vasileva persists for synchronizing the concession contract with the legislation and for the increased levers to monitor and control the concessioner in the exploitation of the region.

Thus, the environmental protection groups are convinced that a full revision of the concession must be performed before any of those questions about the future of the Pirin National Park can be solved. So far, not a single state commission has fulfilled its duty so that the wide public and the ministries could understand exactly how the concession contract was executed. Several groups failed to follow through with this task – an Interdepartmental Working Group, appointed by the Council of ministers in 2014 to inspect if the concessioners fulfills their duties as a side of the contract; the Ministry of the Environment and Water did not follow the requirements of the Court of Auditors and submitted a response to the alarms for exceeding of the concession area by 650 acres, and for the extreme violations of the law for nature preservation and protection during the construction of most of the ski-facilities.

As one of the conditions for an effective meeting today and the swift resolution of the problem, already last week the coalition “For the Nature” requested from the competent ministries, Bansko municipality, and the concessioner “Ulen” to release publicly all documents related to the concession and the names of the actual owners of the overseas capitals in support of the concessioner.

By doing so, the environmentally concerned groups appeal to the Prime Minister and his ministers to finally realize that the accumulated problems with developing the ski zone Bansko are not due to the lack of communication between the investors and the nature preservation activists, but are to be attributed to the State being passive and thus allowing the complete iniquity in National Park Pirin.

“For the Nature” Coalition suggests the following agenda for the meeting on the 7th of March:
1. Reaching an agreement regarding the need to protect and conserve the nature in National Park Pirin
2. Reaching an agreement regarding the current problems with the concession and resolving the question whether or not the contract for ski zone Bansko is followed correctly
3. Establishing the future tasks for the Interdepartmental Working Group and for the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources
4. Discuss the possibilities for resolving the problems in ski zone Bansko, municipality Bansko and National Park Pirin.