site.btaGratuitous Transfer of Bouzloudja Monument Ownership Is Impossible - Minister

Gratuitous Transfer of Bouzloudja Monument Ownership Is Impossible - Minister

Sofia, June 22 (BTA) - Emerging from a meeting with the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leadership on Thursday, Regional Development and Public Works Minister Nikolai Nankov told journalists that February 2017 revisions of the State Ownership Act make it impossible to transfer gratuitously the ownership to a communist-era monument at Bouzloudja Peak. The memorial is currently owned by the Stara Zagora Region (Southeastern Bulgaria) and is in a critically bad condition.

The monument went under construction in 1974 and was unveiled in 1981. It commemorates the constituent congress that the forerunner of the then dominant Bulgarian Communist Party held nearby in 1891. The concrete structure, resembling a flying saucer sitting atop the 1,441 m Bouzloudja Peak in the Central Balkan Range, consists of a rotunda (42 m across and 14.5 m high) and a 70 m high double pylon surmounted by two five-pointed stars, sized 6.50 by 12 m. The monument was lavishly decorated with 550 sq m of mosaics, bronze sculptures and crystal glass, done by more than 60 artists, glorifying the party and its struggles and achievements and peaceful labour under socialism. After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, the memorial was abandoned, vandalized, and left to crumble.

There are other options, including if the BSP expresses the desire and the Council of Ministers adopts a decision, for the monument to be allocated for gratuitous use for a period not exceeding ten years. Alternatively, the party can purchase the property by auction or can rent it.

BSP leader Kornelia Ninova said she was shocked by what she learnt at the meeting. Referring to amendments to the law according to which such properties can be purchased, Ninova said her party was ready to pay.

Nankov explained that the starting bid at an auction for onerous use would be the monument's tax-assessed value, which currently stands at an estimated 110,000 leva.