Environmentalists Protest Against Ski Lift Construction in Pirin National Park

21 jars for each minister with mountain air from Pirin and three new requests were submitted by representatives of environmental organisations to the Council of Ministers on 24^th of January. They insist that the government withdraw its decision to change the management plan of Pirin National Park; secondly, that the Minister of Environment, Neno Dimov, resign, and thirdly, to provide more information about the concessionaire's ownership of Bansko Ski Area.

The environmentalists have said they are not satisfied with an e-mail they received from government officials, ensuring that only a lift and adjoining facilities will be built because it is unclear what these facilities are. They also said that tomorrow there will be a new national protest against constructions in Pirin.

Earlier in January, thousands of Bulgarians gathered in central Sofia to protest further construction of ski lifts in Pirin National Park.

Environmentalists protested against the government’s decision to allow the expansion of the ski area at the Unesco World Heritage Site.

According to them, the move would breach nature protection laws, destroy hundred-year-old pine trees and there will be no more clean mountain air to breathe.

Another protest turned up in support of the building of another ski lift in the park, argueing this would cut queuing times.

Pirin National Park was added to the list of Unesco World Heritage Sites in 1983. The site comprises diverse limestone mountain landscapes with glacial lakes, waterfalls, caves and predominantly coniferous forests.