Petyo Blaskov to build a 6-story building in Dianabad

The Sofia municipality has allowed Trud newspaper editor and editor-in-chief Petyo Blaskov to build a six-story residential building in Dianabad. Aries House will also have offices, a store and an underground garage.

The permit went into effect on September 24, although the site was preparing for construction in July, Capital reported Tuesday.

A day earlier, the Zelen Dianabad Facebook group pointed this out, announcing that it was preparing a protest on Thursday at 6 p.m. between Nikolay Haitov Street and St. Pimen Zografski Street, where the construction will take place.

After a scandalous exchange, the municipality donated the land to the 49th DG “Radost” to P. Blaskov. Despite great public pressure, you already have a building permit! Instead of another apartment block, we want more green areas, playgrounds for children and sports and enough places in the playground. Let us fight together with the construction mafia and guarantee a better future for the children of “Dianabad”, write the organizers of the protest.

A trade deal

The agreement has been known for years when residents of the neighborhood protested and filed a lawsuit against the municipality’s decision to transfer the property, since it is located near kindergarten 49.

The deal for its acquisition by Blaskov is from 2017 and is very similar to a replacement, although it was made with donations.

In October 2017, the Sofia City Council decided to exchange municipal property in Dianabad district for private land in Iztok district, owned by Petyo Petyov Blaskov, son of the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Trud Petyo Blaskov. The deal takes the form of two reciprocal donations, as the exchange of municipal and state property has been prohibited for years after the EC threatened Bulgaria with criminal prosecution if it did not suspend these disposition procedures.

As a result of the deal, the municipality received a 993-square-meter plot in the Iztok district. The property is next to the Borisova Garden and until recently was owned by Blaskov Sr., who received it from his mother. In the current general development plan, the property is intended for landscaping. However, after a series of lawsuits, it was decided that a detailed development plan should be made to allow construction. In 2014, this sparked discontent among residents in the area, who opposed the owner’s plans to build a nursery and underground parking on his property.

To solve the case, the municipality has decided to receive as a donation the property of Blaskov Jr. According to Dnevnik, the private land is valued at 638 euros per square meter or 1.1 million leva. The evaluation is not part of the official decision of the municipal council.

The initial estimate for municipal land in Dianabad district is BGN 1.8 million. However, municipal property has twice the size of private property – 2,049 square meters. At the extraordinary meeting of the budget committee it was decided to increase the price of the land by 100 euros per square meter.

Due to the difference in the prices of the two plots, Petyo Blaskov Jr. had to pay the municipality in the form of a donation of BGN 1,137 million excluding VAT. The property in Iztok will remain for landscaping, and the one in Dianabad, which is currently a green area, is intended for housing.

Orders and resistances

During the week, on the initiative of the Minister of Culture, Boil Banov, the government proposed to President Rumen Radev to grant Blaskov the Order of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius. The award is given for significant merits for the development of culture, art and science. The nomination came at a time when freedom of expression in Bulgaria is ranked 111th in the world according to Reporters Without Borders, and Blaskov himself is often suspected of addiction, including due to the newspaper’s editorial policy.

Days later, the Bulgarian Association of European Journalists reacted harshly to the proposal. The state must present an act for an administrative violation, not an order to the editor of the newspaper “Trud”, Petyo Blaskov, the Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria called in his position.

It’s a shame that the job of inspiring teachers in society should be equated with that of an editor whose contribution to culture at least deserves serious discussion, the association said. AEJ is of the opinion that such awards should not be awarded in exchange for the convenience of the media.

In recent years, the newspaper “Trud” of the Blaskov publishing house has established itself as a communication medium that provides a platform for such smear campaigns against activists fighting for judicial reform, environmental protection or against hate speech. . ‘Trud’ is a medium of communication that can often be read in publications that can be characterized as part of a hybrid disinformation war against European Union values, liberal democracy and human rights. “, was noted at the post.