A new 150-apartment resort complex is being planned by the Aspi Group on the sand dunes of Oasis camping, near Bulgaria’s seaside village of Lozenets.

Locals sounded the alert after reading a small add in a national daily about investors`  plans to change the river-bed of Poturnashka river, which runs across the dunes and flows into the Black Sea.

Dunes are protected by the Law on Biodiversity. Their destruction will cause the extinction of many plant species, Professor Rossen Tsonev from Sofia University`s Biological Faculty explained.

Only a year ago environment minister Djevdet Chakurov opposed the concession of 16 beach and camping sites along the Black Sea because they are areas protected by law.

Environmentalists claim that it`s not the first time that Plovdiv-based construction company Aspi Group, owned by Petko and Vladimir Kisyovi, has violated the law. The owners have already been fined 32 000 leva by Varna`s mayor for illegal tree-felling of protected species upon the construction of Bendita hotel complex, developed by a group owned by another of their companies.