Снимка: Димитър Механджиев
Corrections in the Management Plan of the “Central Balkan” National Park and removal from there of the roads with free access were requested by a petition from the Bulgarian Mountaineering Union (BMU) and the “Nasam-Natam” Tourist Association (@TDNasamNatam). The reason – the places designated for hiking in the park are plowed by cars that move freely along with hikers, and this summer, millions of BGN from European funds were spent on road rehabilitation under a project for protection and conservation of natural environment.
The topic of car traffic in “Central Balkan” Park is not from yesterday. Mountaineers have counted about twenty roads in the park, on which “tourists” with off-roaders, ATVs and enduro mountain bikes move undisturbed. Before “Pro Veritas”, the Chairman of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Mountaineering Union (BMU) Dimo Kolev said that the mountain looks like plowed fields, and the park directorate encouraged the movement of vehicles. An example of this, according to Kolev, is the absolutely unnecessary repair of the road Beklemeto – Dermenka hut, which costs a little over BGN 4 million.
The Management of the park is of a fundamentally opposite opinion. In a letter to the Manager of the Mountaineering Union, they specify that if the road exists and is in good condition, motorized “tourists” will move on it, instead of ruining the aside areas. That’s why the guardrails are in places – so that the bikes and ATVs do not go off the track.
Roads with free access
One of the adjustments in the Management Plan of the “Central Balkan” National Park, which is demanded by the Mountaineering Union, is the removal from the plan of the so-called roads with free access, because “today the picture with the numerous vehicles is scary”. “It is unclear how, instead of limiting human impact in a National Park, there is a deliberate increase in the free movement of vehicles in its territory, in places where hiking takes place,” the petition, organized on Internet, says, which so far has nearly 3,000 signatories. With it, the BMU expects the relevant institutions to argue about the need for a road with guardrails in the mountains and how specifically the Beklemeto-Dermenka road and the increased traffic of all vehicles will contribute to the protection of nature and habitats, ecological tourism and recreation?
Through road rehabilitation to anti-erosion measures
“Preservation of treeless natural habitats through repair and restoration of the road” Beklemeto “- hut” Dermenka “is one of the fifteen activities of the project “Restoration and protection of natural habitats and species in the National Park “Central Balkan”. The project is worth BGN 10.9 million, of which BGN 9.3 million from the European Regional Development Fund and BGN 1.6 million national co-financing from the state budget of Bulgaria. The procedure under which the grant is provided is “Improvement of the conservation status of species and types of natural habitats in the Natura 2000 network, falling into national parks, natural parks and supported reservations” of the Operational Program “Environment 2014 – 2020”. The deadline for project implementation is November 26, 2023.
The urgent repair
It is understood from the project documentation that the project in question needs to be implemented due to “the serious load on the road, as a result of which there is excavation of the road route and movement of vehicles on alternative routes, leading to damages of adjacent sections of the road“. Obviously, this is really a “serious load” on a road that runs along the ridge of Stara Planina, which explains the planned for its repair 36% of the money for the entire project (total BGN 10.9 million). The cost is aimed at preserving wild vegetation and animal species in the protected park area. In the language of the park administration, “rehabilitation of the specified road and implementation of anti-erosion measures in the adjacent sections is aimed at restoring the habitats.”
In a letter to BMU, the “Central Balkan” Park Directorate explains that there are more than 100 hectares of damaged areas in the area of the road route and its adjacent sections, and the unregulated movement of vehicles off the road has caused accelerated erosion of natural habitats. From the Directorate they are adamant that even if the traffic of vehicles in the area is restricted, there are already irreparable damages to the environment that cannot be restored naturally, and constant control is not possible because the employees of the Park Management are very loaded and busy. (the answers from Directorate “National Park Central Balkan” )
So far, everything seems clear – in order to preserve the natural environment, a road covered with rubble will run through the mountain, part of it surrounded by guardrails. From now on, “mountaineers” must move on it, for whom eco-tourism means going through the mountains on a motorbike or ATV.
The tender documentation
Under the project “Restoration and protection of natural habitats and species in the National Park “Central Balkan” the park administration has announced 11 public procurements in the period from October 2018 to June 2020. For preparation of the tender documentation for each of them a contractor selection procedure was also conducted. The contract was won by the BGOMNIA association, which for BGN 358 thousand, VAT included, is obliged to prepare the documentation for the eleven public procurement procedures envisaged under the project, i.e. an average of BGN 32,000 per public procurement. The documentation for each of them, according to the contract between BGOMNIA and the Management of “Central Balkan”, includes samples of application for participation, technical and price proposal, guidelines to the participants, preparation of a draft contract, evaluation methodology, publication of a notice and a decision to initiate a proceedure.
The partners in BGOMNIA are BGBIOMAS, represented by Adriana Gavrailova, registered in the village of Sladka Voda, Dulgopol Municipality, Varna District, and OMNIA Law Office, registered in Sofia and represented by Milan Zarev.
A reference in the UMIS information system for management and implementation of EU funds showed that BGBIOMAS has experience in the implementation of public procurement in the field of natural habitat protection. In 2017, the company, as a partner in the consortium “Maritime Mapping BG” registered under the Law on Obligations and Contracts, is a party to a contract with the Ministry of Environment and Water under a project “Natura 2000 in the Black Sea” worth a little over BGN 1 million. The contract is for preparation of Technical specifications and requirements for research and mapping of the distribution of types of natural habitats, habitats of species and their populations, as well as determination of their conservation status in the marine areas of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The other partner in the consortium which prepares all documents for the “Central Balkan” project, is the legal expert Milen Zarev. Apart from the legal circles, Zarev is known as a producer of television production, he also works in the field of advertising and real estates. According to Daxi’s corporate intelligence system, he is involved in the management of 36 companies, one of which, “DI Industry”, produces TV, audio and internet videos to promote Bulgaria’s EU Council presidency, after winning a public procurement.
60:40 in favor of the Nature
The builder of the infamous road to Dermenka hut is the company under the obligations and contracts “Balkan Plain”, in which partners are joint stock companies “VDH” and “Daedalus 1995”, both registered in Sofia.
“VDH“ is the new name of “Vodstroy 98” company, associated with Delyan Peevski, a company that is mentioned in media publications as participating in consortia that have won public contracts for BGN 976 million.
It is clear from the technical specification of the project that “VDH” will repair 9.8 km in Stara Planina, of which about a kilometer will be milled and re-asphalted, the rest will be paved with crushed stone, which will be two layers with a total thickness of 37 cm. The shoulders on both sides of the road are also made of crushed stone, but their thickness is different – on the side of the ditch they are with the thickness of the pavement, and on the side of the slope – 15 cm. They will also be made of crushed stone. The guardrails are on both sides of the parking lots of the “Eagle’s Nest” shelter and the “Dermenka” hut. An extension is planned for about a kilometer of the road.
Even with the first torrential rain, the pavement will slide and nothing will be left of the embanked repaired road, believes Dimo Kolev from BMU. And after the winter snows, the road will surely be in history, the chairman of the mountaineers is categorical. Dimov is also angry about the widening of the road. “On the one hand, we are protecting natural habitats, on the other hand we are entering into their territory by widening an existing road to ensure the movement of vehicles,” he commented before “Pro Veritas’.
The institutions are on the move
The petition of the Bulgarian Mountaineering Union and the “Nasam-Natam“ Tourist Association will be sent to the Chairman of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Prime Minister, the Environment and Water Committee with the National Assembly, the Minister of Environment and Water, the Ombudsman of Republic of Bulgaria and the Chair person of the European Commission. To it, the Bulgarian Mountaineering Union will add information about the activities that are carried out on the ridge of Stara Planina in the section Beklemeto – Dermenka hut under a a project funded by the European Union and will ask “Is this construction necessary if it will increase the flow of vehicles in a protected area?”
The BMU hopes that these questions could be answered and resolved during the public discussion of the “Central Balkan” National Park Management Plan. The plan was adopted on March 24, 2016, and according to the Protected Areas Act at the end of the first four-year period, after its entry into force, a public discussion of the implementation of the planned activities and the need to make adjustments is foreseen. “At the beginning of 2020, the four-year period expired and no date for public discussion has been set. That’s this petition is for – to show that it is time for this discussion to take place and for the proposed changes to be accepted,” the mountaineers explain.
To improve the conservation status of species and types of natural habitats in Natura 2000 network, falling into national and natural parks and reservations, Bulgaria has concluded 14 contracts with a total value of just over BGN 34 million. The funds are under OPE, priority axis “Natura 2000 and biodiversity”. 70 percent of this amount is for the protection of natural habitats in the natural parks Rila, Central Balkans and Pirin.
