The first reading of the Black Sea Development draft bill on May 18 caused tensions in Parliament. Despite the opposition’s heavy arguments against the draft bill, the ruling majority voted for it on first reading.

Lyuben Dilov, leader of the right-wing Gergyovden Movement, part of the United Democratic Forces (UDF) coalition, was among the extreme critics of the draft bill. Before the voting, Dilov proposed to the ruling majority to withdraw the draft bill for further improvement. Until then, Dilov requested the majority to impose a ban on building and construction on a 200m zone along the Black Sea coast. Dilov requested the moratorium to include a ban on detailed construction plans that have been already affirmed by Black Sea municipalities.

The draft bill proposed by the ruling majority – formed by Bulgarian Socialist Party, the National Movement Simeon II and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – will not be applied to already-built construction sites, which means that hotels that have been built will not be demolished. However, the draft bill’s ultimate goal is to put an end to the widespread practice of building everywhere without consideration of limits.

Speaking in Parliament, Dilov called the draft bill overdue and already out of time, saying that it would just cover up the damages caused by the illegal construction that had been going on for years. Another thing for which Dilov asked from the majority was for more strict definitions of the so-called temporary construction sites, as well as increased sanctions for the violators and the condition that all changes and detailed construction plans be estimated for their influence on the environment.

Despite Dilov’s propositions, the majority ignored them and adopted the draft bill on first reading. The only change in the draft bill was the increased period between first and second reading, when changes can be made in the document. The term was increased from two to three weeks.

According to the adopted draft bill, Black Sea municipalities will have the power to issue building permits only if there is technical infrastructure already built by the local authorities at the site. If there is no such infrastructure, the investors will be allowed to build the roads by themselves.

Mayors will also be authorised to remove at their own initiative sites from the beach when they do not comply with the construction norms and plans.

At present, concessionaires are allowed to build whatever they want, wherever they find a place.

The draft bill also provides that the regional governor take care of the beaches without private owners. He or she can rent them for up to three years in order to provide the obligatory presence of lifeguards and medical workers.

According to opposition members, the proposed texts of the draft bill will help to instigate construction in the few areas that have remained vacant along the Black Sea coast. The draft bill also envisages that there will be no construction for the period between May 1-October 15. Exceptions will be made for urgent repairs. The fine for not following these conditions will be between five and 10 thousand leva.

MPs from the ultra-nationalist Ataka party requested a special committee to be formed to investigate why the Black Sea coast was in such a state and who was responsible. MPs from the right-wing Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria said that the draft bill was aimed only at organising the construction on the Black Sea coast, not its protection.

On May 10, when the draft bill was discussed in a session of the Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Affairs, all MPs agreed on the conclusion that the now-existing Act on Development of the Territory was not followed by most of the construction companies. The simple answer for the present state is because the act does not have exact definitions for the different kinds of territories. There is no definition for “sea beach” or “sea coast”. Because of this, the most common mechanism used by investors is to buy at cheap prices land declared as agricultural, despite the fact that the land is actually on the sea coast. After the investors buy the land, the only thing they have to do is wait for the respective municipal council to change the land’s purpose and to turn it into one suitable for building. This is how the investors actually go around the law without making any illegal actions, Savin Kovachev, deputy minister of Regional Development and Public Works, said at the session.