Same old story: Bulgarian authorities disregard public opinion on Ljulin motorway

Sofia, October 28 -- The Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters has disregarded the outcome of a public consultation process and issued an environmental permit for the highly controversial proposed Ljulin motorway.^[1] The decision was made only three weeks after the Ministry had decided to ignore public opinion in the case of the widely opposed national waste centre. Ministerial endorsement of the project was a conditioned for the disbursement of the second tranche of a EUR 111 million ISPA grant.^[2]

The Ljulin motorway project has a painful history. In 2002 the Ministry approved its construction without carrying out obligatory public consultations. Due to the serious shortcomings in the Environmental Impact Assessment procedure, the European Commission (EC) requested the procedure be carried out again before the ISPA grant could be given.

Civil society groups feel that the opinion of the affected communities has been bypassed again despite the second round of public hearings. Andrey Kovachev, an NGO representative on the Supreme Expert Council of the Ministry of Environment, commented: "The minutes from the public consultations and the official statement of the local initiative committees are sufficient motives for issuing a negative decision on the motorway construction. It seems like the consultation was only a formal step for proceeding with a new environmental permit." Kovachev himself voted against the permit but his opinion was sidelined.

Residents in affected villages clearly stated that the Ministry should reject the proposed route on the grounds of its damaging environmental impact. In their view, the motorway will influence negatively the air quality and pollute the mineral water reserves of the famous Bankja spa resort. The route will also impact on three other nearby settlements that come within the catchment area of the resort and serve as a vacation place for the capital. Three years ago residents proposed an alternative route for the Ljulin Motorway, but their suggested route was never assessed.

"The health of people and the environment are put at risk even it is not even clear that the proposed route will decrease congestion on the existing bottlenecks on the N4 corridor. Moreover, support from the European Union for that project will have a negative impact on the democratic process and public participation in Bulgaria," stated Anelia Stefanova, a member of Environmental Association "For the Earth" / CEE Bankwatch Bulgaria.

"We still have some hope that the EC will exercise diligence with regard to the way public opinion wasn't taken into account. We will appeal to the Commission against the disbursement of the money for the motorway," concluded Stefanova.

For more information contact:
Anelia Stefanova
t. +39 0765 27 6004
m. +39 333 80 92 492
anelias@bankwatch.org

Andrey Kovachev
t: +359 963 14 70
m. + 359 887 91 57 55
balkani@bluelink.net

Here you can see the Statement regarding the public consultation held in the period of 27 September 2004 to October 2004 on the EIA report for the Ljulin Motorway.