Bulgaria Burgas Mayor: We Don't Want Russian Oil Pipeline
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Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov (right) has made it clear the locals are against the Russian oil pipeline project. Photo by BGNES
The Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas is against the construction of the Russian-sponsored Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.
This has been stated by Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov in an interview for a Greek TV channel, which was cited by the press center of the Burgas Municipality.
“Our priorities are projects related to the development of tourism and light industry, not those which threaten the environment such as the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline,” Nikolov said.
In his words, the people of Burgas and the nearby resort towns Sozopol and Pomorie have demonstrated with the three local referendums that they were against the construction of the oil pipeline.
The Burgas Mayor believes that the issues connected with the lack of information on the scope of the Russian project, the unloading technology, the lack of environmental safety guarantees and of specific financial benefits are all very acute.
Bulgaria’s Economy Minister Traicho Traikov said last week that there were no reasons not to go ahead with the realization of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project for the time being. He made this statement after he saw a presentation of the Trans Balkan Pipeline firm, which is supposed to build the pipe.
The agreement for the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline was singed by Bulgaria and Russia in January 2008 during former Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Sofia.
The pipe is supposed to transport Russian and Caspian oil from Bulgaria’s Burgas to Greece’s Alexandroupolis thus going around the Turkish straits. Local and environmental Bulgarian and Greek NGOs, however, claim that the project is extremely dangerous for the environment, and its potential costs outweigh tremendously any benefits it might bring.
Under the existing agreement Bulgaria is supposed to be getting about USD 35 M per year from the transfer of oil through its territories – a sum which the critics of the project consider ridiculous.
The Mayor of Burgas Dimitar Nikolov is from the ruling GERB party of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
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