The pedestrian and bicycle route from Sarafovo district towards the city center of Burgas, which is currently completely cut off, is illegal. This was recalled by Regional Governor of Burgas Plamen Yanev to a journalist of Iskra.bg. He stressed that there is neither a legally built pedestrian nor a bicycle path at this place.
„I mean, by law there never was such a road,“, he insisted.
The reason to contact the regional governor is a publication by MP Andrey Runchev, who reported that the pedestrian and bicycle route was completely cut off as a result of Saturday’s storm, specifying that now the old „black“ road through the fields, which is not suitable for walking, remained at this time of year due to weather conditions. He noted that he has repeatedly warned about the problem and since the spring of last year has held several meetings with regional ministers regarding the need for funds to urgently strengthen the collapsed section. The deputy criticized the regional governors of Burgas, as according to him the section in question fell under their competence, as the owner of this section, that they failed to provide money for urgent repairs. According to him, the local administration did the right thing and provided money for the project.
In this regard, Plamen Yanev explained that his disputes with the Municipality of Burgas on this case dated back at least a year and as a result things did not moved forward at all.
„The ball is being passed without taking into account the reality,“ he stressed, adding: „We even have illegal construction there, which is subject to completely different authorities, if we strictly follow the word of the law. /…/. There was never a project there and the bike lane was never legal there. I made that clear a year ago. There was a temporary road there which was under construction and which by law had to be removed afterwards. Someone, unknown who, laid asphalt. /…/. The moment I became the regional governor, we sent a letter to the Municipality, in which we indicated what the options were. One is for the Regional Administration to start strengthening there, which, however, does not at all guarantee that as a result of this strengthening, there will be a bicycle lane there.“
The second option is for the property to be transferred to the Municipality of Burgas, which will carry out whatever activities it sees fit there, Yanev added. In the end, both sides of the issue preferred the second option.
Currently, in order for the property to be transferred, the Ministry of Tourism has to take pictures to show that there was once a beach there, that is, to make a new map of the area and then we transfer the property to the Municipality, the Regional Governor, who took office at the end of July, commented.
The Regional Governor specified that on the same day he also spoke with the Deputy Minister of Tourism, everything was specified how to do it as quickly as possible and subsequently the letter was sent. He pointed out:
„I am truly confident that what depends on them will be done as quickly as possible so that we can transfer the land to the Municipality and from there they can implement the project. The legitimate way is to have a project done by the landowner or if a development right has been granted that takes these conditions into account and to implement something of quality and long-term.“
The governor shared that he knew about a project of the Municipality of Burgas and that the local administration wanted to donate it to previous Regional Governor, Prof. Maria Neykova, and even talks were held. According to him, this could not happen at the moment. On the occasion of Runchev’s publication, he commented: „Now I don’t know why we are going back. It doesn’t help at all to go back again and start arguing again about whether there was illegal construction there, who implemented it and how come no one was sanctioned for it.“
