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A letter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has caused chaos in construction

Anyone who wants to build a garage, fence or summer kitchen must coordinate their project with the Environmental Protection Agency

Nov 7, 2024 15:21 118

A letter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has caused chaos in construction  - 1

„ projects caused chaos in the entire investment process. It becomes extremely difficult for citizens to build a kitchen, a garage, a fence, because they have to coordinate their projects with the regional environmental and water inspections (RIOSV), pay high fees and wait for an answer for more than 6 months. The process is becoming insanely complicated, since the RISW do not have sufficient capacity to deal with it within the legal deadlines. "Buksuva is an important economic resource that provides a significant part of Bulgaria's GDP," said the chairman of the Chamber of Architects in Bulgaria (CAB), arch. Vladimir Milkov.

Professional organizations insisted that the Minister of the Environment and Water, Eng. Petar Dimitrov, urgently cancel his instructions and restore the practice until recently, in which eco-consent was not necessary for all projects. The MOEW requirement should not be applied to projects that do not fall into protected areas and are located in urbanized areas with development plans that already have an EIA. “We call on the Prime Minister to take action as quickly as possible so that citizens and businesses are not burdened with meaningless procedures. In addition to delaying, annoying and making the process more expensive, the instructions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications burden the administration with extraneous functions. "Society expects the state to work to reduce the administrative burden and corrupt practices, but in this case we are facing the exact opposite," affirmed Prof. Dr. Arch. Borislav Borisov, Deputy Chairman of the CAB.

The chief architect of the Municipality of Pravets, Mariela Andreevska, commented that all Bulgarian municipalities are facing serious difficulties due to the new instructions of the MoEW. “The processes of territorial planning and investment activity are blocked. The small number of RISV staffs are flooded with senseless boiling work instead of directing their efforts to environmental protection activities, said Arch. Andreevska. According to her, a register linked to the cadastre could be created, which would provide information on the availability of EIA for the various territories in the country. Letters of protest to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications were also sent by the chief architect of the Metropolitan Municipality, Bohdana Panayotova, and by the chief architect of the Belitsa Municipality, Konstantin Hristov.

„We want the Minister of Environment and Water to prove that he can meet the legal deadlines of 2 weeks, which are required for eco-consent. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications does not have the administrative capacity to carry out the minister's order. Why should the administration burden itself with heavy and pointless work? This is against the modern European concepts of reducing corruption and bureaucracy," commented Eng. Georgi Shopov, chairman of the National Association of Construction Contractors (NASP) and rotating chairman of the Coordination Council.

The chairman of the regional board of the KAB in Burgas arch. Sabin Popov warns that there is a danger that the investment process in the seaside city will come to a complete halt due to the huge administrative burden in RIOSV Burgas. According to him, 150,000 files are submitted annually to the regional eco-inspection, which are reviewed by only three employees. The procedures take more than 6 months, as it lacks administrative capacity.

There are more than 100,000 unresolved files in the RIOSV Sofia, the number of which will continue to grow like an avalanche if the order of the Ministry of the Interior is not revoked, warned engineer Tsvetko Tudzharov, chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Architects and Engineers – consultants (BAAIK). The chairman of KIIP Eng. Marin Gergov also supported the need to cancel the letter of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in order to reduce the administrative burden.

You can see detailed statistics on average property prices in Bulgaria by cities and neighborhoods HERE