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If the green racketeering over resort №1 continues and if the necessary changes are not adopted, the most undisputed of which is the construction of a second gondola lift, the business at the foot of Pirin Mountain risks a turnover of BGN 158 million per year. The state budget will lose nearly BGN 2 million - as much will be the lost profits of the still unrealized increase of concession fees for the ski area in Bansko. This is the analysis of the consultant company KS2 founded by the economist Krassen Stanchev.

The report was ordered by the Ministry of Environment and Waters and published on the website of the Institute for Market Economics. The document deals with the delays in the Management Plans for Pirin National Park and Vitosha Nature Park, the attempt to block lot 3.2 of the " Struma" highway and other projects which are blocked by "environmentalists".
Krassen Stanchev reminds that the ski tourism business in Bansko provides jobs for about 6,000 people and their families (from the region and elsewhere because part of the workforce migrates seasonally).
In case there are obstacles to the development of Bansko about 2 000 jobs will be at risk. The loss of revenue for the treasury will be approximately BGN 34-35 million per year. This is nothing compared to the possible collapse if the concession contract of Ulen will be terminated – such are the radical "reforms" proposed by "green" NGOs. In such case the loss for the state budget will be at least BGN 180 million. This account does not include the negative socio-economic effects.

So at the beginning of the next winter season Bansko’s case goes back to the headlines. The solution depends on whether someone at the Council of Ministers or the prosecutor's office will dare to end the racketeering and stop the criminal schemes of the so called ecologists.
 

Source: Bansko Utre Weekly