The illegal villas in the protected nature zone Airodi, near the Black Sea town of Ahtopol and part of Strandja nature park, will finally be destroyed, five years after the decision to demolish the buildings was made.

In 2003, the Supreme Administrative Court reached the verdict in favour of demolishing the buildings and by law is now able to make the decision public, private broadcaster bTV reported on August 11 2008. The directorate for construction control in Bourgas will have to issue the demolition order, and is waiting on information from Tsarevo chief architect Dimitar Alexiev about all illegal buildings in Tsarevo municipality before he does. The Supreme Administrative Public Prosecutor’s Office requested the investigation, bTV reported.

Airodi is a countryside area at the mouth of Veleka River and construction there is prohibited because of the old oak-beech forests and the picturesque delta of the river. Many birds and animals also inhabit the area. It offers a magnificent view of the sea and its untouched beaches, which is what attracted the developers in the first place.

At first, only shepherds were allowed to take their livestock out grazing at Airodi. Consequently, there were constructed several massive buildings and a chapel. Holiday villas also appeared, there but according to data from Tsarevo municipality, they have no construction documents at all.

Alexiev said that the municipality found five buildings and wooden bungalows undergoing construction in 2003. Since then, the villas have multiplied to 18. The directorate for national construction control then requested the legalisation of the constructions but, according to Alexiev, higher officials would not allow it.

Although the villas are illegally constructed, the inhabitants have documents that prove their ownership of the houses and land, so they are appealing against the court’s decision not to legalise their houses.

According to Alexiev, the landowners had to understand that not all territories can be sold for construction. “Bulgaria undertook international actions to preserve protected territories and these actions come before the interests of the landowners,” he said.

Recently, the mouth of Veleka was saved from construction. Tsarevo municipality had originally proposed a plan to Bourgas asking for permission to allow construction in the area; however, the Bourgas environmental inspectorate refused the plans.