Bansko Expansion Plans Blocked by Courts
Bansko Expansion Plans Blocked by Courts
Published : 19-Jan-2019 05:44
The high court in Bulgaria has called a halt to plans to almost quadruple the size of Bulgaria's famous Bansko ski area.
In the latest stage in a succession of legal rulings and government decisions over the past 18 years, Bulgarian Courts ruled that the plans broke Bulgaria's laws which say it is illegal to build in national park land.
Bansko has been a huge success since a gondola was built from the original village to a modernised ski area at the turn of the last century. That success has caused problems though including long queues for lifts and the resort's management's answer has been ao expand the ski area to become one of Europe's biggest, as well as the largest in the east of the continent with around 250km of piste and more lifts.
However the problem the ski area has always faced is that it is built on national park land, and in this case also a UNESCO World Heritage site. There have been strong objections by environmental groups, with the WWF prominent, and more recently a body funded by actor Leonardo di Caprio, to both the original development and more recently the proposed new development.
Different Bulgarian governments and courts have taken opposing views over the years with the environment Minister of the current Bulgarian government in favour of the plans, leading to calls for his resignation from environmental groups in light of the court's decision.
Resort managers had argued that a number of ski areas operate in national parks around the world.
As the arguments have gone on for so many years it is unclear whether this really is the end of the attempt to expand Bansko.
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