Bulgarians Stage New Rally against Construction in Protected Black Sea Areas
Environment | January 17, 2013, Thursday| 946 views
Send to Kindle
Monday's protest in Sofia against construction works on the Irakli beach brought together around 2000 people. Photo by BGNES
Protests against reckless construction on Bulgaria's Black Sea cost will be held Thursday in Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna.
The rally is yet again organized via social networks.
The protest "Hands off the Black Sea coast" taking place in Sofia will start 5:30 p.m. at the Patriarch Evtimiy monument and will continue along the streets Graf Ignatiev, Rakovski, Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd and reach the Parliament building, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT).
The protesters demand the immediate creation of National Park Bulgarian Black Sea Coast which will guarantee protection for the beaches of Irakli, Karadere, Kamchiyski Pyasaci, Shkorpilovtsi, the Durankulak lake, Sveta Ana, Krapets, Lake Shabla, Koral Arkutino, Dunes, Maslen nos.
The protesters demand legal amendments providing access to information and justice as regards construction permits, detailed and general spatial development plans, so that illegal construction in protected areas can be stopped before it is too late.
The protesters also demand a permanent halt of construction works on the Irakli beach.
On January 14, Bulgaria's Regional Development Ministry issued a ban on the construction of a holiday complex on the Irakli beach after detecting discrepancies between the construction permit and the activities of the Emona 2000 company on the site.
The ban was imposed against the backdrop of rallies in several Bulgarian cities under the slogan "Hands off Irakli."
On Wednesday it was reported that the environmental inspectorate in the Black Sea city of Burgas would impose an administrative enforcement measure to stop construction works in Irakli over discrepancies between the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project and the construction permits.
Meanwhile, the seven-day period for the appeal of the two statements of findings issued by construction inspectors about the detected irregularities is underway.
The consultant of the project and the investors are to be fined.
Tags: protest, Irakli, environmental impact assessment, construction permit, Regional Development Ministry
» Subscribe to receive alerts by email for any of these keywords.
