The last 20 illegal buildings in the Stara Zagora neighborhood “Lozenets“ are being removed today, August 19. The action concludes the long-standing procedure for the demolition of a total of 550 illegal sites, described by the Stara Zagora Municipality over the years, announced Mayor Zhivko Todorov.
The buildings are located on a property - private state property, representing a forest area with deciduous forest. They are outside the regulation line and fall into a park area, which is why there is no possibility of their legalization, the mayor pointed out.
A total of 29 buildings were included in the current procedure. Nine of them were voluntarily removed by their owners, while the remaining 20 were forcibly demolished.
According to Todorov, the actions of the local authorities are not related to the ethnicity of the people living in the area, but to compliance with the law. Residents of the legal part of the “Lozenets“ neighborhood have repeatedly reported illegal construction, the lack of normal infrastructure and garbage collection, as well as the formation of unregulated dumps.
The municipality has also taken social measures for some of the affected households. During rounds of social services, 18 households with a total of 21 children were identified, after which 12 applications for accommodation were submitted. Four families were determined to meet the conditions, and as of August 18, four households had already been accommodated in social or other municipal housing.
The large-scale removal of illegal construction in the area has been ongoing for years. In August 2025, over 100 buildings were removed, and at that time the Municipality of Stara Zagora announced that the total number of illegal buildings already demolished was over 450.
According to the mayor, illegal construction in this part of the city began to grow more than two decades ago. He also showed archival photos from 2004, which he said documented the development of construction in the area. Todorov stressed that the reaction of the institutions must be immediate upon the detection of illegal construction.
After the completion of one of the major actions in 2025, the local authorities also announced their intention to improve the infrastructure in the “Lozenets“ neighborhood, including the construction of sewage and water supply.
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