Since the beginning of August, Smolyan Municipality has introduced paid access to Snezhanka Peak. Cars are prohibited, the lift remains for 24 leva per person, reported "For the Truth".
"By order of July 30, Smolyan Deputy Mayor Maria Tsekova introduced strict restrictions on car access to the television tower on Snezhanka Peak. From August 1 to September 15, every day from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., car traffic is stopped, and parking along the entire road is completely prohibited. Exceptions to Tsekova's order are allowed only for specialized vehicles and those with a pass issued by the local administration in Smolyan. However, the sign posted on the site lacks the mandatory specification for the time period of the restriction, which according to the law means that the road is blocked around the clock, an on-site inspection found. There is also no announcement about the ban. This confused many tourists and put them in an absurd situation - they did not know that half of the road was closed", says "Za veristiya".
The ban forces tourists to use the chairlift of "Pamporovo" AD, which remains the only alternative for quick access to Snezhanka Peak. A man and his wife said that they had heard about the ban and therefore left their car at the Pamporovo bus station. The two of them paid 24 leva each, and at an intermediate station - another 24 leva. The climb to the tower cost them nearly 100 leva. "We will return on foot - said the man. Everyone can see whose interests this order serves.“.
"For the Truth" commented that the deputy mayor's order is hurting local businesses, seasonal workers and tourists who cannot or do not want to pay dearly for a lift, as well as those for whom it is impossible to travel by it - small children, the elderly, the disabled. The reputation of the resort “Pamporovo“ is also losing. The winners seem to be few: the owner of the lift - – “Pamporovo“ AD and those merchants whose establishments are located before the prohibitory sign for car traffic on the road to the tower of Snezhanka Peak."
In her order, Deputy Mayor Tsekova refers to the long-repealed Ordinance of 2001, instead of the current one from 2022, which requires prior coordination of projects with the Ministry of Interior bodies. Such coordination is missing. There is no approved project for the organization of traffic, prepared in accordance with the current regulatory requirements. In her reasoning, Deputy Mayor Tsekova uses Art. 73 of the Administrative Procedure Code – “urgency“ and “large number of tourists“ – obviously to avoid the mandatory public discussion. But she does not present any evidence of the need for urgent measures – there is no traffic data, information about incidents or risks.
According to unofficial statistics, not a single incident has been registered on this road in the last ten years. When asked by a reporter if it was true that there were many tourists this year, the tenant of the TV tower restaurant Matey Mateev said: “Nothing like that. This year there are many times fewer than last year“.
The law obliges the municipality of Smolyan to first implement lighter and adequate measures, such as speed limits or passing intervals. Instead, there is an extreme and unjustified ban, and at the height of the season. Peak Snezhanka is part of the 100 national tourist sites of the Bulgarian Tourist Union.