It will be a bit quiet on the Strandja nature park front for an indefinite while. After recent developments, its fate is still undecided as amid strong media coverage and another round of protests, no further steps were initiated from the involved institutions.

The interdepartmental committee of the Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs (MOEW) was scheduled to vote on two separate reports on July 22. The first report concerned the environmental analysis of the disputed region and the second was an assessment of compliance with the European Union’s Natura 2000 regulations. Both reports affect the newly-drafted master development plan of Tsarevo municipality, because the scientific inferences made by the expert team have to be directly registered in the plan. The draft would then be presented for voting to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works.

On the eve of the committee’s voting, Environment Minister Djevdet Chakurov adjourned the upcoming meeting saying that the experts needed to further update the two reports. This is the third time the two assessments have been turned down due to insufficient and incomplete data regarding the existing and potentially endangered species inhabiting the park.

The environmentalists from To Sustain the Nature in Bulgaria (SNB) coalition reacted with a news conference held on July 21. They warned that if the two reports were approved, this could mean a 100 per cent build-up of the park’s coastal line, which was initially envisioned by Tsarevo’s development plan already approved by the town council.

“Tsarevo’s plan is not consistent with the capacity of the region’s recreational resources,” Toma Belev, chairperson of the Green Balkans federation, told The Sofia Echo. “It is not reasonable to build new holiday villages and hotels that could host up to 200 000 tourists, while at the same time, the county’s total population is no more than 10 000.” A large piece of the county’s territory falls within the park’s borders, where the inhabitants are less than 3000, but the plan envisions the build-up of new facilities, which would offer close to 100 000 additional beds, Belev said.

If the construction envisioned in Tsarevo’s plan is carried out, this would mean the annihilation of 75ha of forest and forested areas, he said.

“What is even more disturbing is the fact that the environmental assessment is done by an expert team of which only one member is a biologist, while the rest are sylviculturists,” Belev said. MOEW requested alternative assessments, but where would they come from if the same people were entitled to re-do the reports, Belev said. He added that not a word has been uttered about how the master development plan, done by an interior design architect, would improve the infrastructure to accommodate such rapid development. No further propositions were discussed on the issue of how they would be able to handle water and electricity supplies if the plan goes ahead, Belev said.

The environmentalists also insisted on the provision of a 200m safe zone along the coastal line and around the protected areas of the park where construction should be prohibited.

Deputy Environment Minister Chavdar Georgiev also called a news conference where he agreed that there were inconsistencies and white spots in the reports, though he could not explain why.

Georgiev has backed the Tsarevo development plan and some say his interest lies within the proposed golf course, which is featured in the plan. Environmentalists have dubbed the deputy minister the ‘Golfer’, because Georgiev is also on the management board of the Bulgarian Golf Foundation and Party and Golf Club, which, they say, is a conflict of interests.

 “Those assertions make me laugh. I don’t see a conflict of interests, because the organisations I participate in have nothing to do with the amendments of the Tsarevo’s plan,” Georgiev said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily. The deputy minister also tried to convince the activists that golf was a nature-friendly sport and the golf courses should be considered as potential protected areas where the biodiversity would be preserved.

As of now, it is not clear when the two reports would be presented again for voting. But whatever the experts’ amendments, the activists remain suspicious of the final outcome. The approval of Tsarevo’s development plan, by and large, would legalise and resume the construction of the infamous Golden Pearl holiday complex near Varvara village.

Strandja nature park is in southeastern Bulgaria, occupying a territory of 1161 sq km. A 1995 government regulation declared it a protected area, because it is home to rare flora and fauna species.