Overseas Real Estate Blog

Today more news from protests planned for supposed illegal building in Panichishte. The Sofia Echo reported the following: uken is reported to have complained to European Union environment commissioner Stavros Dimas that Bulgaria is not respecting the EC Environmental Law and requested that sanctions be taken against the country, according to green campaigners in Bulgaria.
The Sofia Echo reported that after Auken saw the area of Rila Mountain, where the company Rila Sport wants to build the Panichishte-Ezerata-Kaboul ski resort, which environmentalist fear would destroy the unique Seven Rila Lakes area, she said: “Maybe the part of your tourism will remain, in which the visitors go to the pubs and drink, but this is not very good for the country.”
“I saw that there are plans (for ski resorts) not only in Rila buffer zone but also inside the natural park. I don’t know what types of ski resorts it is all about, because with the climate changes, which are currently evident, this is not the cleverest investment I have seen. You destroy the nature and at the same time you will not have development of the ski resorts,” Auken said.

What is happening here cannot even be called capitalism. It is a very bad capitalism when you start losing valuable things,”
she said.
However Auken’s visit to parts of Rila needed to be changed as about 4000 residents of the surrounding villages gathered to protest against her visit and to support the ski resort project “Panichishte-Ezerata-Kaboul.” The pro-development protesters carried posters saying, “There is no future for the region without the project”.
The protest against Aken’s visit was organized by local mayors of the villages where the development will take place. Sapareva Banya mayor Sasho Ivanov said that environmentalist’s claims that hotels would be built around the Seven Rila Lakes, that ski slopes would be built on the territory of the Skakavitsa reservation and in Rila National Park around the Seven Rila Lakes and that there would be a road between Pionerska hut and the Seven Rila Lakes were all lies.


..... Well I say that it seems somewhat over dramatic for protesters to claim there will be hotels around the 7 Rila Lakes, but all lies - lets se the detail. However the general demand for sustainable development in Panichishte has got to be a good thing. Another large scale development like Bansko is not required. My view is that its about getting minimal development in Panichishte but mindful that the ski facilities do provide economic stimulus and jobs. This story will run for some time and I hope to comment more on the Sapareva Banya and Panichishte issues as time goes on. One thing for sure though the region is very special and the potential for Sapareva Banya to become an example of high end sustainable development is recognised by many. The popularity of the long standing Spa resorts of Velingrad, Hisar (Hisarya), Sandanski and others is quite striking. These resorts are often booked up at weekends.

The lessons of over development at Bansko and parts of the Black Sea coast such as Sunny Beach and Golden Sands must be learnt. The unfolding of the credit crunch will affect Bulgaria to a degree in some parts. I have witnessed first hand the steady growth of spa tourism and Sapareva Banya's development seems to me to be a uncertainty now, not least because of the very high price of some of the land in the area now.