BANSKO PRICES FALLING
During the past four months, real estate brokers at the resort of Bansko, in the Pirin Mountain, did not sell any apartments, Bulgarian-language Struma daily reported on September 4. Real estate prices  have fallen and the forecast was that, in the near future, some of the hotels in Bansko would have to be demolished because of the bad infrastructure and the construction chaos. “We don’t have work. All 150 real state brokers in Bansko did not complete even one sale during the past four months,” Foros real estate consultant Vidin Hristov said. He said in May, June and July 2007 the apartment prices dropped by 10 per cent and, even though the prices were low, no one was buying. The only company that has made any sales was McAnthony and MRI. “Our owners are Irish and we make deals with clients from UK, Spain, Germany,” the company’s broker Ivan Shterev said. He said they were selling apartments near the planned golf course in the Betalovoto area, at the foot of Pirin Mountain, and on the way to the village of Banya. The chairperson of Kapman finance’s board of directors, Nikolay Yarumov, said that the serious investors would withdraw from this investment field and would probably re-direct into common funds.

STARA PLANINA WIND FARM
A big Danish company, represented in Bulgaria by Greentech BG OOD (GBG), intends to build about 30 wind-power generators with 60MW capacity and about 1600-1800m high in the area above Tchiprovtsi, in Stara Planina. The investment will be about 60-80 million euro. The local municipal council approved the establishment of a mixed company between the municipality and GBG, on August 27. The local authority will provided about 10 sq km of land, BTA news agency reported.

CLEAN MOUNTAINS CAMPAIGN
WWF Bulgaria started a campaign to clean the natural parks in September and October 2007. It will take place in all 10 natural parks in Bulgaria – Vitosha, Strandja, Rusenski Lom, Zlatni Pyasutsi, Vrachanski Balkan, Shumensko Plateau, Bulgarka (in Stara Planina near Gabrovo), Persina (near Belene), Rila Monastry and Sinite Kamuni (near Sliven). Together they are the largest protected areas in Bulgaria, presenting about three per cent of the country’s area. There are about 10 million visitors, annually, to the national parks; Vitosha, near Sofia, receives about 3.5 million a year. WWF said some areas are more popular than others and the  most visited are the areas Zlatnite Mostove (Golden Bridges) and Aleko on Vitosha Mountain, Karandila near Sinite Kamuni, Vratsata in the Vrachanski Balkan and Kyoshkovete in the Shoumen Plateau. “There, where many people go, inevitably rubbish is gathering as well,” WWF said. The organisation said it is not possible to organise a rubbish collection in the national parks and therefore all visitors should take all their rubbish home with them, and dispose of it there. The campaign is calling all visitors to follow the rule “rubbish – in the backpack”. The Bulgarian Parks Association has also supported the initiative.