Bulgaria travel news blog

The head of the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters, M-r Djevdjet Chakarov (DPS) said Bulgaria this year has to absorb at least 200 million EUR in variety of environmental projects.
The funding will be granted by the European Union according to the operative program "Environment 2007 - 2013". Minister Chakarov made the statement during his working visit in Plovdiv today.
The limits of the European environmental funding for this year are 300 million EUR. The money is aimed at first at construction of waste water treatment divisions and water facilities infrastructure of built - up areas.
The following is an example how urgent the measures are: in Plovdiv district there are 47 settlements with population above 2000 inhabitants and just two of them have water treatment plants.
This is a serious weakness but also means that all the other places could participate in different environmental projects and 44 more plants to be build, pointed Chakarov.
The most prepared municipalities in Bulgaria are the "heartland" communities, said the Bulgarian environmental minister. But the great part of the municipalities is not yet ready with these projects and there is an appealing lack of activity in the local authorities.
The minister concluded that his institution is willing and able to provide every expertise and support to the interested in the development of such kind of projects.
In Bulgaria there are mounting public tensions that the Environmental Ministry only emphasizes on such future projects leaning on European money while the natural resources and especially biodiversity in the country are depleting.
The economic value of the conservation is growing extremely nowadays, but the responsible Bulgarian institutions are stuck in corruption and red tape.