A study of public opinion by the Bulgarian branch of World Wildlife Foundation, polled 990 people, and reported that four out of five Bulgarians supported local nature conservation organisations efforts to stop over-development in the country’s mountains. The number is said o be marked increase on previous studies.
75% of Bulgarians said they did not approve of the construction of new hotels, pistes and lifts in the protected areas in the Bulgarian mountains of Rila, Pirin, Stara Planina, Vitosha and Rhodopi. A similar number said they did not think the Bulgarian government was doing enough to preserve and protect the areas.
Continue reading ‘Bulgarians massively opposed to ‘Over Developing’ local mountains for skiing’
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Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and Construction Minister Asen Gagauzov were among a group of dignitaries and journalists who were left stuck for an hour in a gondola cabin thirty metres (100 feet) in the air at the opening of one of the country’s new mountain resorts earlier this month.
The incident occurred at the opening of the new Bodrost - Kartala resort, 100km (63 miles) south of the country’s capital, Sofia, in the Rila Mountains in the south west of the country on Wednesday. The problem is believed to have been caused by a power supply failure to the new resort, reported to be a common problem in Bulgaria where state infrastructure is struggling to supply the rapidly growing tourism projects around the country. Some reports said that when the power failed gondolas cabins slid down the cable and bumped in to one another, but no one was injured in the incident.
The new 50 Million Leva resort is being built in three phases between 2007 and 2010. Environmentalists were also at the resort’s opening to protest at what they claim to be “irreparable damage” to the area. They claim that the lift construction violates Bulgaria’s environmental protection laws. They claim to have raised the issues with the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs and the State Forestry Agency last autumn, but say no action has been taken and they are now raising the matter with the European Community.
A large area of the national park land is also reported to have been damaged by a recent eight day forest fire.
The Prime Minister office declined to comment on the gondola incident.
Bulgaria’s Pamporovo ski centre is extending its ski area to the village of Stoikite with the construction of three-kilometre six-seater chair lift.
It has already received the environmental impact assessment from the environment ministry and estimates the costs of the project at 13 million leva.
The lift will service two new ski runs with a total length of seven kilometers (four and a half miles) and is part of wider plans to extend the ski area to link with other ski developments including those at Chapelare.
The total length of the ski runs in Pamporovo is currently 55 km (35 miles). The number of beds at the resort is also reported to have risen ten fold over the past seven years from 2,000 to 20,000.
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Bulgaria is quickly expanding into a major ski resort developer in the eastern European community following the recent announcement that yet another ski facility is being planned in the Rhodope Mountains.
The latest new ski resort for Bulgaria, has been announced. This is the latest of a string of new Bulgarian ski area announcements, which seems to be announced at a rate of almost one a week.
The latest resort, to be called Mechi Chal, is due to be constructed over the next five years in the country’s Rhodoppe Mountains.
The resort is ear-marked for a small existing ski hill close to the town of Chepelare where the existing lift will be renovated at the first stage of a 50 million Euro investment.
The ski area should be operational for the coming winter with a second lift, 2.7km long, installed and a new 3.5km long ski run with snow making. During the next three years a third lift, 3km long, will be built along with a sports centre in Chepelare, and another 3-km long lift.
Locals have welcomed the new ski area plan as, unusually for Bulgaria, the local community is reported to have a 50 percent share in the development alongside private investors.
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The latest proposal for a ski area in Bulgaria is for the city of Varna on the Black Sea coast at the East of the country. It will be directly across the sea for Sochi in Russia, host of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The mountains inland from the city form one end of the Balkans range, the local area of which is Stara Planina. The highest peak is Botev (2,376 m), which is located in the Central Balkan National Park (established 1991). The local Provadiya plateau is known for its natural beauty.
The city’s mayor Varna Kiril Yordanov has already announced that an artificial surface year round ski slope is to be built in the area and he announced earlier this week that a second project, this time for a conventional ski area, was being considered for the Vladislavovo Quarter. The project is reported to be backed by the Bulgarian Ski Federation who would build the centre. A new ice rink is due to open in the town on July 10th.
Despite mounting opposition towards Bulgaria’s ski resort expansions, a number of country citizens recently demonstrated in Sofia, favouring the expansion of the ski industry.
The demonstration was meant to counter recent protests by environmental groups including the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) against more ski resorts in Bulgaria and the expansion of existing areas, which they are argue damage the environment, particularly in protected areas where they believe such developments are illegal.
Milan Dzhorgov, the chairman of a “Civil Association” set up to promote ski resort development above the village of Sapareva Banya, told the Focus News Agency.
The new pistes will not destroy the environment because they will be at 2,600m above sea level and there is no vegetation there, only grass.”
Commenting on the environmental protests against the ski development, to be named Panichishte, he said, “I do not mind young people who call themselves environmentalists protesting, but we will not allow the destruction of the environment in our region, because it is our future.”
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Work on a new 60 million euro ski centre called ‘Mechi chal‘ is due to begin next month close to the Bulgarian town of Chepelate town in the Rhodope Mountains.
The project will initially see a quad chairlift with 2,000 capacity installed along with a hotel and restaurant. All are due to be ready for the 2008-9 season. The second phase of the resort will involve adding 35km (22 miles) of new trails for the 2009 season according to local media reports.
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