Lifts on Sofia's Vitosha Mtn to Function Starting Aug 1

Controversial Bulgarian Vitosha Ski company officially stated it will re-launch the lifts it owns on the Vitosha Mountain near Bulgarian capital Sofia next Wednesday.

Starting August 1, the lift between Simeonovo in Sofia and the Aleko Hut in Vitosha, as well as between Sofia's Dragalevtsi and Goli Vrah, will be operational again, said the company.

Vitosha Ski stopped operating the lifts and did not open ski facilities for the last winter season, in protest against a denial to expand operations in the mountain.

Vitosha Ski had presented a development project that was rejected as environmentally unfriendly for the mountain, which, being a designated nature park, is a protected area.

End of 2011, the company pushed controversial amendments in Bulgaria's Forestry Act that would have virtually scrapped administrative hurdles to go on with expanding facilities in the mountain.

When Parliament adopted the legislation June 13, this triggered spontaneous large-scale protests in Sofia that led to a presidential veto on the act.

Public pressure led to the Forestry Act's being re-adopted by Parliament Wednesday with the controversial amendments scrapped.

Vitosha Ski had agreed to re-open lifts following a recent meeting with Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, which some criticized as long overdue.

The company owns the lifts since 2007, when Sofia Municipality, then headed by now PM Boyko Borisov, sold them in a privatization deal.

Vitosha Ski is known to be controlled by Bulgarian Ski Federation president Tseko Minev, a notorious Bulgarian businessman also controlling First Investment Bank and Yulen, the company that operates Bulgaria's biggest winter resort Bansko.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!