Projects to renovate two parks in the central part of Stara Zagora – “5 October” and “Alexander Stamboliyski” – should have been completed long ago, as both were given 150 days for completion and work began in the summer of last year. Three hundred days have now passed, yet neither project has been finished.
Delays to park renovations in Stara Zagora are becoming the rule rather than the exception
The renovation of the “Geo Milev” Drama Theatre in Stara Zagora, a listed cultural heritage site, is still unfinished as well. Work began at the end of 2022 and was supposed to be completed by the end of 2024. By the middle of 2026, it is still not done.
Under the original plan, residents of Stara Zagora should have been enjoying the new look of 5 October Park by autumn last year.
Mayor Zhivko Todorov said he would not impose penalties on VDH AD, the contractor carrying out the renovation of 5 October Park, for exceeding the 150-day deadline, citing the poor weather conditions during the autumn and winter.
But blaming a five-month delay on weather conditions hardly seems convincing. Nor can the discovery of 13 ancient burial structures belonging to a large necropolis outside the city walls reasonably explain the delay, according to a decision issued by Stara Zagora Municipality on 21 May in response to questions from “Za Istinata” under the Access to Public Information Act concerning the renovation of the two parks.
The ancient graves were discovered during excavations around the fountain in the park, but this did not prevent the contractor from continuing work in the remaining areas. Yet even on days with perfectly suitable weather, no work was being carried out there.
The ceremonial groundbreaking for the project was performed by the mayor, who smashed a bottle of champagne against an excavator in front of cameras and photographers from media outlets paid by the municipality to provide its information services.
The contract with VDH AD, formerly Vodstroy 98, which was previously associated with the business circle around Delyan Peevski and is now owned by Veliko Zhelev as part of his Hidrostroy group, is worth BGN 9.240 million, or €4.724 million including VAT, for the renovation of 20 decares of parkland. Of this amount, BGN 6.550 million was provided by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, with the remainder coming from the Stara Zagora municipal budget.
So far, the company has been paid €1.255 million including VAT, or around a quarter of the total contract value.
For comparison, the much larger renovation and reconstruction of around 600 decares – the historic part of Metropolitan Methodius Kusev Park, known as Ayazmoto – cost BGN 7 million including VAT and was also carried out by Vodstroy 98, which at the time had no experience in park construction.
The renovation of 5 October Park includes
Broadly speaking, the project involves replacing the existing asphalt paths with concrete paving blocks, renovating the ageing fountain, reconstructing and replacing the surfaces of the existing playgrounds and installing new benches.
When asked by “Za Istinata” at the groundbreaking ceremony whether the park would be covered in concrete as part of the renovation, deputy mayor architect Martin Paskalev said no.
The renovation itself has since contradicted that assurance,
because both the kerbs and the path surfaces are made of concrete.
Following a phytosanitary assessment of the vegetation, according to information from the municipality, 31 trees were cut down, while around 100 new ones are due to be planted.
The newly designed vegetation was set out in a detailed dendrological schedule, which “Za Istinata” intends to request separately under the Access to Public Information Act.
According to landscape architect Kornelia Matorova of Landscape Design-Invest Ltd, which is supervising the implementation of the projects in 5 October Park and Alana Park, and previously in Ayazmoto and Station Garden, there is no problem planting trees even in August as long as they are grown in containers, provided they are watered afterwards.
It is worth recalling that during the renovation of Metropolitan Methodius Kusev Park, many trees and shrubs were planted and most of them subsequently died.
Alexander Stamboliyski Park is better known to residents as “Alana”. There used to be a grain market on the site, while the park itself was laid out more than six decades ago.
Its renovation began on 25 July last year, again with a ceremonial groundbreaking, a blessing and other fanfare, but the work has progressed even more slowly and is also five months behind schedule.
The municipality attributes the delay to the approval by the National Institute for Immovable Cultural Heritage of a project change made during construction.
According to the mayor, the contractor, the consortium Elite Montazh Trade Ltd, had to wait three months for approval from the institute because one of the paths in the project documentation extended beyond the historic boundaries of the park. After the approval was not granted, the design itself had to be changed.
The project is being financed entirely by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, which allocated more than BGN 5 million for the renovation of the 15-decare park.
“So far, the regional ministry has not transferred a single euro for this renovation,” Mayor Zhivko Todorov told “Za Istinata”.
“The main objective of the project is to create a sustainable, functional and aesthetically coherent garden environment, reflecting both the historical layers that have shaped the park and contemporary European and global practices,”
the municipality said in an elaborate press release marking the start of the renovation.
The planned works include replacing the old asphalt surfaces with granite slabs and paving stones, as well as installing new park furniture in a “retro” style. The existing public toilet is also to be reconstructed to meet accessibility requirements.
The project further includes new lighting, a video surveillance system, and the modernisation and securing of the playground.
The phytosanitary assessment provides for the planting of more than 70 new coniferous and deciduous trees, while 2,500 shrubs are to form hedges.
The park is also home to a unique 120-year-old plane tree, around 30 metres high, whose presence is admired by both Stara Zagora residents and visitors.
The monuments in the two parks are an important part of their planned appearance.
The monuments in Alana Park – dedicated to the participants in the 1875 Stara Zagora uprising, the poet Geo Milev and St George the Great Martyr and Victory Bearer, dedicated to Stara Zagora residents killed in all wars – are not seen as controversial either in concept or execution and do not divide citizens along ideological lines.
Things look very different in the central 5 October Park.
On 23 September 1879, or 5 October under the new calendar, the symbolic first stone for the reconstruction of the city after it was burned was laid there. Nearby stands a memorial to the victims of Stara Zagora in the Balkan Wars and the First World War, whose setting among the surrounding trees creates a peaceful and attractive atmosphere.
Around 50 metres to the north stands the Anti-Fascist Monument, with a five-pointed star mounted on one side and a hammer and sickle on the other.
“Za Istinata” has repeatedly reported that this monument should either be removed or transformed by taking down its communist symbols. We also found no document or other evidence showing that an ossuary containing the remains of those killed between 1923 and 1944 – the people officially commemorated as anti-fascists – exists beneath the monument. Their names are inscribed on a memorial plaque.
But the project submitted by Mayor Todorov to the municipal council to make such changes failed to secure the necessary support. The vote showed that among councillors – not only those from the Bulgarian Socialist Party and Revival – attachment to the monument remains strong. That may not amount to an endorsement of communist ideology, but it certainly suggests tolerance towards the ideology and its symbols.
Asked why he and deputy mayor for culture Milena Zheleva were absent from the extraordinary council session, which had been convened at his request and where the issue was supposed to be debated and put to a vote, Todorov replied: “Because I already knew what the mood was among the different groups.”
But that, of course, did not prevent him from trying to persuade them through his powers of argument, as he has repeatedly done with other proposals brought before the council in what critics regard as private rather than public interests.
He chose not to do so and instead accepted that the monument would remain in the park in its current form.
This raises broader questions about the ideology and values of Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB).
Lack of funding is a major problem for both parks
“This is the state’s responsibility,” Todorov told “Za Istinata”.
“If the work that has already been carried out is not paid for regularly, despite our contracts with the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, the contractors have to finance it themselves. And this problem is not unique to Stara Zagora. It is the same in Sofia, Varna and other parts of the country. There are exceptions, most likely in some municipalities governed by the DPS, where payments are being made. So far, we have received only 50 per cent of the funding for all the projects currently being carried out in Stara Zagora, which together are worth €25 million.”
The mayor also expressed concern that inflation could increase the cost of completed renovation work. He urged anyone who suspects corruption in the public procurement procedures or the use of funds to report it to the competent authorities.
“There has been a change in the prosecution service, so anyone is free to do so,” he said.
Yet despite his attempts to portray the procurement procedures as highly transparent,
Zhivko Todorov still owes Stara Zagora residents an explanation of what made it necessary to dig up both parks, which were already in perfectly reasonable condition in terms of their paths and vegetation.
New benches, CCTV, the renovation of the fountain in 5 October Park and improvements to the trees could have been carried out without tearing up the entire parks and spending additional money, while residents could have been spared the inconvenience of having to walk around fenced-off areas in the centre of the city.
Work has also begun on nearby Pazarska Street, which links the two parks, as part of a new vision for the city centre – much to the “delight” of Stara Zagora residents.
The mayor has also promised that the area in front of the Vereya Hotel, in the very centre of the city between Tsar Simeon Veliki and Gurko streets, will soon be rehabilitated.
In short, for the remainder of Zhivko Todorov’s term in office, the centre of Stara Zagora – and not only the centre – is likely to remain a construction site.
And all of this, of course, is being done with one declared goal: to give the city a European appearance.
Whether everything being done in the name of residents is actually to their liking will be decided by the residents themselves at the next elections.
Until then, they will have to be patient.
