The Supreme Expert Environmental Council has approved Tsarevo municipality’s master development plan for construction in Strandja nature park. The July 31 decision was interpreted by activists and the public as governmental support for construction in Strandja nature park.
The council approved amendments to the area’s environmental assessment that Environment and Water Affairs Minister Djevdet Chakurov had requested on July 22. The original plan had envisioned further building on park territories, including the coastline. In its ruling the council decided to impose mild stipulations on building height and construction density.
Ivan Kambourov, from the Directorate of Strandja nature park (DSNP) and manager of its Tsarevo office, was the only expert on the council to vote against the plan. He said the plan violated Bulgarian law because it overlooked the Environmental Protection Act and regulations on development of building at the Black Sea. He told The Sofia Echo that DSNP is preparing a 70-page objection to the plan. “We see major procedural and logical errors that make this plan unworkable in the future,” he said.
Kambourov said that the plan excluded a large amount of agricultural plots. If these plots were built on there could be negative consequences due to the lack of adequate eco assessments. He also expressed surprise that the council was convoked only a week after Chakurov sent the assessment for revision. He said that DSNP experts had never been consulted. He also pointed out that all documents to be discussed at the July 31 meeting of the council, arrived at the DSNP office at 4.15 pm the previous day, leaving little time for an adequate review. The plan was shortsighted about the future, he believed. Furthermore, every step was conveniently interpreted as being in the interests of Tsarevo municipality, Kambourov said.
“Experts who voted for the plan tend to focus only on the settlements in the park and disregard natural areas within the development plan’s parameters,” Yordanka Dineva, from the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation, told The Sofia Echo. Dineva noted that the plan featured the construction of holiday villages, which some public figures and politicians have said would benefit locals by creating jobs and tourism.
“But those holiday villages are not meant to develop the area and improve people’s lives,” Dineva said. “Investors do not have tourism on their minds. They intend to sell what they have built. What happens after that is none of their concern.”
The most significant part of the plan stipulates that construction on either side of any river in the area should begin no less than 150m from the banks of the river itself. Activists from To Sustain the Nature in Bulgaria had initially proposed 200m. Reacting to the decision, the campaigners said that the revised distance was insufficient to preserve flora and fauna in the natural zones. “The proposed construction is on a larger scale and would serve as an imposed concrete barrier to animals using the area as their natural habitat,” Dineva said.
Critics also believe that changes to the plan would most likely legalise and resume the construction of the infamous Golden Pearl holiday complex near the village of Varvara. A golf course was also included in the plan but experts recommended careful handling of natural vegetation in the area.
“I am satisfied with the way things turned out,” Petko Arnaoudov, Tsarevo’s mayor, told The Sofia Echo. “Finally, some balance of interests has been achieved.” The mayor also said that, although the issue had been heavily politicised, environmentalists had no reason for further complaints. “The plan was approved on the condition that there will be an eco assessment of every construction initiated in the park. This should be a sufficient guarantee.” Arnaoudov has often stated that his long-term wish is for Tsarevo to be equipped with a modern yacht port by the end of his second mandate.
Last year, a Supreme Administrative Court order, with the consent of Tsarevo municipality, waived the park’s protected area status. This meant that construction of previously sanctioned building projects such as hotels and holiday villages was imminent. The court decision inspired mass protests in favour of the park. The National Assembly then passed legislation that areas specially protectecd by a governmental ruling could not have their status disputed or revoked in court.
“A development plan is a necessary blueprint for any municipality. We don’t object to the existence of such a plan for Tsarevo,” Yordanka Dineva said. “But we oppose the one currently approved because it does not comply with the park’s natural characteristics.”
