The floods in recent days have shown us what disasters uncontrolled construction in natural water bodies leads to. A river, driven underground, and a hotel and other attractions built above it, came out of its bed and took human lives. A similar scenario threatens to be repeated at the foot of Vitosha, where the Boyana Swamp is located on an area of 7 acres. It is a natural water regulator and habitat for over a hundred species of birds, some of which are protected.
According to experts, the development of the swamp destroys the unique flora and fauna, but can also lead to critical flooding of the neighborhoods of "Boyana", "Manastirski livadi", "Pavlovo" and others.
"Boyansko blato must be reflected in both the Detailed Development Plan of Boyana and the General Development Plan of the Sofia Municipality. Until this happens, investor interest will not subside," lawyer Alexander Kolev explained to the Bulgarian National Radio.
The 2023 order of the Basin Directorate declared the Boyana blato a water body and indicated its borders, he said.
"After that, the private property owners appealed to the administrative courts. The Supreme Administrative Court overturned the order of the Basin Directorate, but said that the Boyana Swamp is a permanent water body. The Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the Basin Directorate is not responsible for declaring its borders. We have come across a Paragraph 22 – we have a water body, which, however, does not have an owner, it is not clear who manages it, who maintains it and can take action when there are emergency situations - floods, torrential rainfall".
He explained that in the capital we can expect serious floods where the rivers are not marked on the maps and have already been built over.
Our ultimate goal is for the Boyana Swamp to become an ecological park, explained attorney Kolev.
He pointed out that the Chamber of Architects has come out with a recommendation for a full audit of the development plans, especially in the risk zones – along the banks of rivers and around water bodies.
"The Boyana Swamp is such a risk zone".
It is not nature in Bulgaria that is to blame, but corruption, he summarized.