Tsarevo Municipality is considering a change in its zoning plan, which will allow for the development of all agricultural lands along the coastline of the natural park Strandja, the coalition To Sustain the Nature in Bulgaria announced.
 
Parliament changed the law for the protected territories this summer, thus saving Strandzha from obliteration. The present change of Tsarevo`s zoning plan is to be financed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works through state budget resources. Its adoption would result in legalising Zlatna Perla complex, already under construction on the premises of Strandja near the village of Varvara.

Tsarevo Municipality wants to legalise all projects along the whole Tsarevo-Varvara coastline, half of the Varvara-Ahtopol coastline, half of the coastline between Ahtopol and Sinemorets, Butamyata Beach to the south of Sinemorets, and of several hundred metres of the line northward from Rezovo.

Amendment of the zoning plan includes changing the status of over 1 500 hectares of agricultural lands, pertaining to natural park Strandja, into regulated plots. Currently, 15 per cent of the coastline has been built up, whereas the plan provides for building up almost 38 per cent of the coastline.

The proposed change to the plan concerns two protected areas: "Veleka`s Mouth" (the coastline between Ahtopol and Veleka rivers, where governors plan to build up 50 per cent of the coastline) and "Neichovo Kladenche" (a small protected area near Ahtopol).

The new zoning plan does not provide any assessment of alternatives, which is a key requirement when changing the status of lands, included in a natural park. The change of the zoning plan and its ecological impact assessment will be considered by the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water Affairs at a local level and not by the Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs.