site.btaConcession Agreement in Bansko Is Violated, State Is Defrauded - Environmental Organizations

Concession Agreement in Bansko Is Violated, State Is Defrauded - Environmental Organizations

Sofia, February 15 (BTA) - The concession agreement about the Bansko ski area has been violated and effectively dissolved as the state allowed third parties to carry out economic operations and generate revenues within the area of the concession, said Toma Belev of the For the Nature coalition of environmental organizations. He spoke at a BTA-hosted news conference on Monday in the wake of last week's Development Council which discussed the issue.

Belev said that if the law is to be applied, ownership of illegal facilities should be awarded to the state. He said that in the past 15 years no environment minister has challenged the concession fee despite findings by the National Audit Office that the state has been defrauded.

Alexander Dounchev said that the illegal development of an additional 65 hectares over the 99.55 hectares of the concession area reinforces monopoly in the ski zone and is in violation of EU's competition legislation. "This skews the terms of competitions for award of the concession to serve a single company and we think that the EU will confirm that this is unauthorized state aid," he said.

The environmentalists underscored that that main problem lies in the lack of title deeds for the constructed facilities as there is no consensus whether they should be public state or exclusively state property. Belev said that they should be declared public state property.

The newly developed territories around the concession area are in violation of the law and the effective management plan of the Pirin national park, said Petko Tsvetkov of the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation, adding that they can exist only if a new concession award procedure is announced. Of responsibility shifting between the Sports Ministry and the Environment Ministry, he said that despite calls by the Sports Minister for a second gondola lift in Bansko, the Environment Minister should authorize the construction and bear responsibility for many years after that.