Everything done to Vitosha Mountain’s Aleko winter resort, including the blasting of rocks and altering the natural environment, is illegal because it has been done without a permit from the State Forestry Sofia (SFS), State Forestry Agency representatives said on October 10. Their statement came after representatives from Sofia Regional forest directorate, SFS, Vitosha Nature Park, 6th regional police office and the coalition To Sustain the Nature in Bulgaria (SNB) inspected construction works on Vitosha.

SFS manages the land of the State Forest Fund, which has been broken up for the construction of the ski route, as well as the land of the nearest ski route Vitoshko Lale (Laleto, the tulip). The inspection showed that Aleko lifts’ owner, Vitosha Ski AD, had a permit to cut the upper part of 19 rocks (of the moraine type) so that they would not obstruct skiers’ routes. But, instead of this, the company illegally constructed a whole new ski route through a stone river bed, a natural phenomenon very typical of Vitosha. The ski route connects the Blue piste to Laleto. More than 100 huge rocks have been dug up and dispersed, SNB said in a media statement.

The cutting of the upper part of the 19 moraines was allowed under the Vitosha Nature Park management plan, which the Cabinet approved in 2004 for a 10-year term. The plan stipulates permissible activities in the nature park. Blasting any kind of rocks in the park as well as driving heavy machines is banned. Checks revealed, however, that excavators, bulldozers and trucks have been used to destroy and move rocks. Grass and juniper species have been destroyed in the process.

SNB said it would continue insisting that all relevant institutions undertake actions to cease the destruction of Vitosha Nature Park. These include the Environment Ministry, Sofia Regional Inspectorate on Environment and Waters, Sofia Regional Directorate of National Construction Control and Sofia Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

Environmentalists are also lodging a claim with the European Commission on account of what they see as the destruction of habitats from the Nature 2000 environmental network and for the inadequate response from relevant state institutions.