Hristo Ivanov: Highly toxic sludge is deposited in a Natura 2000 area near Varna – Bulgaria



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Hristo Ivanov

© Screenshot of a video from democratic Bulgaria

Hristo Ivanov

The Bulgarian state introduces Ahmed Dogan to the Port of Varna, said the co-president of Democratic Bulgaria, Hristo Ivanov, today in an extraordinary briefing on the shores of Lake Varna. The waterway that runs through it is currently being deepened within the framework of a BGN 350 million project, for which the state-owned company “Transportation and Construction Rehabilitation” contracted the Russian company “Hydrostroy” without tender for the award of a public procurement.

The hundreds of millions of levies allocated by the state are actually going to

the construction of the port of Ahmed Dogan

instead of the development of the port of Varna, said Hristo Ivanov. “This is done by deepening the accesses through Lake Varna to the territories held by the honorary president of the MRF.”

Data from the maritime traffic system, showing that the dredgers contracted under a BGN 350 million state project deepened only the waterway from the entrance of Lake Varna (right) to the port of Ahmed Dogan (left in the box )

© Screenshot of Marine Traffic

Data from the maritime traffic system, showing that the dredgers contracted under a BGN 350 million state project deepened only the waterway from the entrance of Lake Varna (right) to the port of Ahmed Dogan (left in the box )

Data from the archives of the specialized online platform Marine Traffic, published by Dnevnik in early August, actually shows that the specialized Hydrostroy ships worked only on the route from the entrance to Lake Varna to the port of TPP Ezerovo. There, its owner, the honorary president of the MRF, Ahmed Dogan, is developing a terminal for containers, grains and liquid cargo, thus taking over the functions of the current port of Varna. Options for relocation have been sought for years, but without success. At the same time, its territory, close to the city center, is increasingly attractive for the development of tourist and attraction businesses. For this reason, most of the piers and warehouses on the doorstep have already been rented and converted into restaurants and amusement park. yes

The “port of Varna” is losing its potential

at the expense of TPP Ezerovo, which Ahmed Dogan acquired through his company Sigda.

On this occasion, “Democratic Bulgaria” has presented to the prosecution a signal of unregulated state aid in the lease of the harbor quay wall in TPP “Varna” EAD. The political party wants the state prosecutor’s office to check why in 2019 the wall of the port quay “TPP Ezerovo” was handed over to “TPP Varna” without the mandatory competition procedure.

How the state ceded the TPP Ezerovo port to Ahmed Dogan – here.

According to Hristo Ivanov, the dredged masses dug into the bottom of Lake Varna are currently being deposited in the Nalbanka landfill, near the town of Kazashko. It was closed in 2009 due to capacity depletion, but also because it is in protected honesty, part of the “Natura 2000” ecological chain.

“However, it turns out that with the start of deepening work on Lake Varna, this landfill was reopened with slightly displaced boundaries, but without an environmental impact assessment,” Ivanov said. This is why we are here today. since we have approached the Ministry of Environment and Water to investigate the reasons and the way in which this sanitary landfill was reopened to be used ”.

The Glanford excavator of the Russian company

The Glanford excavator of the Russian company “Hydrostroy” at a time when the mud that has dug from its bottom returns to Lake Varna

Other reasons for this request are

highly toxic dredging masses that are extracted from the bottom of the lake

They are dangerous to human health and the environment, Ivanov explained.

According to him, the volume of sludge that can seize the Nalbank landfill after its reopening is about 3 million cubic meters, while according to the plan, between 7 and 8 million cubic meters should be removed during the deepening of the lake. “It is not very clear where this residue will be deposited,” said Hristo Ivanov. “There are studies that have found

elevated levels of toxic compounds,

so there is something to doubt. “

Conducting an environmental impact assessment during the reopening of the Nalbank landfill is mandatory, both in Bulgarian legislation and in European directives. Information from Democratic Bulgaria shows that in order to circumvent this procedure, the state-owned company Port Infrastructure has divided the investment proposal for the deepening of Lake Varna into two parts: one for the actual work on it and the other for the reopening of Nalbank. Therefore, there was no formal connection between the two parties.

Ivanov announced that tomorrow on the page of “Democratic Bulgaria”

a video recorded with a drone will be published on Facebook

which shows how one of the “Hydrostroy” dredgers spills mud and pollutes the water in the lake instead of occurring in marine areas with great depth in the call. 12-mile zone of Bulgarian territorial waters.

The State Financial Inspection Agency also asked Democratic Bulgaria to verify why the recruitment of the Russian company Hydrostroy was not carried out under a public procurement procedure.

“We are talking about 350 million BGN, which goes with the help of the Bulgarian institutions

not in favor of the family, but in favor of Dogan

Hristo Ivanov said. We are currently in a pre-electoral period, everyone has mobilized to eliminate Boyko Borissov and GERB. There is no doubt that the least that should happen to Borisov is that he withdraws from the political scene and that the GERB enters the opposition to be removed from power. But we run the risk that Boyko Borissov will leave, but Dogan will stay. “

According to the co-chair of “Democratic Bulgaria”, the big question is how the Bulgarian state institutions have become service personnel of the “sheds”. “This model must be abolished, and Democratic Bulgaria is the only political force that clearly names the model and has a clear program on how to destroy it,” added Hristo Ivanov.

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