Bulgaria's coastal towns of Sozopol and Primorsko have decided to hold referendums on the plans to build the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, following the lead of Bourgas, whose residents will vote on the issue on February 17 2008.

Sozopol's municipal council set the date for its referendum on April 6 2008, allocating 40 000 leva to that end from its budget, Dnevnik daily reported.
 
The referendum was the only way for Bulgarians to express their opinion on the pipeline project, the municipal councillors said.

Primorsko has not yet decided on the date, but its mayor Lilyana Dimova was expected to table a motion against the pipeline construction at a municipal council meeting later this month. Dimova was against the project, even though she is a member of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, which supports the project.

“Primorsko is among the fastest developing municipalities and tourist destinations on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Our main business is tourism. It is logical that we fear that the smallest oil spill can take all that away from us,” Dimova said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

Voters in Bourgas would be asked whether they support the existing plans build the pipeline, but its results would be considered valid only if more than 50 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.

Authorities and businessmen in Bourgas, who demand a nationwide referendum on the issue, have said that they hoped a high turnout would prompt an intervention from the EU. The ensuing talks with Bulgaria’s Cabinet might delay the project by at least a year and even prevent it from starting altogether should the Government change in the meantime, Dnevnik daily said.

The construction costs of Bourgas-Alexandroupolis are estimated at 700 million US dollars. The pipeline will be 286km long and have an initial annual capacity of 35 million tons, which could be then expanded to 50 million tons.