The Minister of Environment and Water Asen Lichev rejected the request by Toma Belev, Chairman of the Management Board of the Association of Parks in Bulgaria, to impose a coercive administrative measure to stop the construction on a property in Sinemorets, Municipality of Tsarevo, Burgas region. The investment proposal is for a villa – a two-floor building for the owner’s needs, whereby wastewater will be discharged into a watertight pit.

According to the Ministry of Environment and Water the property is located within a designated urbanized territory (villa zone), according to the current development plan of the Municipality of Tsarevo; the change of the category of the property from agricultural land to land for non-agricultural needs has been carried out in accord with the Act on Protection of Agricultural Lands; the investment proposal was confirmed after a check on its admissibility in respect to the regimes of the Strandzha Nature Park, introduced by the Protected Areas Act and the order declaring the park under protection.

In the letter to Toma Belev, the Minister stated that in this case there are no legal grounds for the imposition of a coercive administrative measure on the basis of the Environmental Protection Act, the Biodiversity Act, or the Protected Areas Act.