The Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW) conducted a documentary inspection in connection with signals by citizens for construction work within the land of the village of Sinemorets in the Polyanite area.

The inspection established that the following documents were issued pertaining to the construction:

- Decision №10-PR/2008 on assessing the need to carry out an EIA by Minister Dzhevdet Chakarov not to carry out an EIA.

- Letter №5733 / 09.06.2016 to the Director of RIEW-Burgas Tonka Atanasova on an investment proposal for the construction of villas on a property with identifiers 66528.1.247 - according to the letter the planned activities do not fall within the scope of Annex 1 and 2 of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) and are not subject to procedures under Chapter Six of the EPA.

According to the MOEW, these acts had lost their legal effect before the start of the construction work and did not provide sufficient grounds to claim that the competent authority in assessing the need for EIA had correctly assessed whether or not it falls in Annex 2 of the EPA. Not fully considered were also the assessment of the absorption capacity of the natural environment in accordance with Art. 93 para. 4, item 2b of the EPA and the cumulative impact under Art. 93, para. 4, item 3g of the EPA.

Also in the letter of RIEW-Burgas from 2016 concerning the investment proposal it was stated that: “Transport and pedestrian access to the property will be provided through the existing road infrastructure. The electricity supply, the water supply with drinking water, the connection of the property with the adjacent street sewerage are existing and it is not necessary to build new ones.”

In this regard, the MOEW sent instructions to the RIEW to monitor the implementation of these acts, making sure to inspect the following:

- the presence of an existing network for electricity supply, water supply, and street sewerage to the property;

- new circumstances after 09.06.2016 regarding the change of the purpose of the property - whether the property is not intended for agricultural land.

The Ministry of Environment and Water instructed RIEW-Burgas to check whether the terms of the permits under the EPA had not expired prior to the beginning of the construction activities. If this were the case, the RIEW were to proceed to coercive administrative measures to stop the violation under the EPA.