SOFIA, March 26, 2002 - The Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water (MEW) has decided to ask for supplementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the Sofia-Kulata Motorway project, part of the Trans-European Corridor N4. The EIA report is prepared as part of the preliminary design of the motorway, funded by the EU PHARE Cross-Boarder Cooperation Program. Construction of the highway is very problematic as it is planned to pass through the Kresna gorge CORINE site (Site Code F00002500), one of the seven most important territories for biodiversity protection in Bulgaria. The combination of Mediterranean and Continental habitats in a 17 km long and steep gorge make the Kresna CORINE site unique, but also very vulnerable to any construction activities.

The present preliminary EIA report is the fourth one in five years for the design of the Motorway Sofia - Kulata (Struma Motorway). The previous three reports were rejected by the MEW due to the lack of alternative alignment of the highway outside the Kresna CORINE site. "The latest report tries to make an assessment of the 5 route-beds for the territory of the gorge. Since the Road Agency gives priority to construction into the gorge, the design of the two "alternatives" outside the gorge consists of merely a 2-page description and several maps. We consider that the EIA procedure for that project hasn't been started at all" stated Anelia Stefanova, member of the environmental NGO "ZA ZEMIATA"

The EIA report also failed to make an assessment regarding the project's insufficiency. Instead, "Incorrect and manipulative information was presented during the public hearings of the EIA report. The independent experts who wrote the report tried to convinced the citizens that it is impossible for a route outside the Kresna CORINE site to be built", stated the NGOs who participated in the public hearings, in their statement referring the quality of the EIA procedure. "We presume that the design company, SPEA Ingegneria Europea, chose specialists closely connected with the Investor, preventing them from making an independent assessment." Furthermore, the EIA report, paid by the EU PHARE CBC Program has very serious defects and does not take into account any of the EU directives related to EIA. The public hearings for the EIA report also were in contradiction with the philosophy of the process. NGOs submitted a common statement regarding the quality of the EIA procedure to the Minister of Environment. The NGOs consider that the EIA report should be rejected, or returned for supplementation.

"For more than 10 years, public hearings on EIA reports have been conducted in Bulgaria. But still the people are not really aware of the existence of such procedures and of the rights and possibilities that they provide," state the NGOs in their statement on the quality of the EIA procedure. It is crucial that the appraisal be based on the monitoring of the EIA procedure, financed by the EU program. Thus, several Bulgarian environmental NGOs have sent a letter to the European Commission appealing for support and involvement in the case. Specifically, they would like the DG Environment to do a screening of the EIA report and to write a statement on it. The Bulgarian public is relying on the fact that, at least in cases where EU funding is involved, EU environmental standards will be enforced.