Wrangles Over The Amendments To Bourgas Master Plan

Bulgaria’s Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works will assign a new procedure for developing a new master plan of Bourgas, regional minister Assen Gagaouzov announced on March 31, quoted by Dnevnik daily. He explained that the new plan for urban development will add new territories to the municipality.

Currently, the regional ministry has a public procurement contract with Atika R5, managed by architect Petko Yovchev, which has won the tender to pick a company to carry out the amendments to Bourgas master plan.

However, architectural bureau Gevrenov and Stoev, the rival of Atika R5 in the contest, lodged a claim with the Supreme Administrative Court, also alerting the Commission for Protection of Competition.

Gevrenov and Stoev insisted on revoking the public procurement, because it has been assigned by the ministry without being voted at a session of Bourgas municipal council. They accused Atika R5 for hoodwinking local residents and investors into the future grandiose changes, such as re-locating the city centre and revamping the existing borders of neighbourhoods.

“If Gevrenov and Stoev had thought that the procedure was not legitimate, they should not have participated in the tender,” Atika R5 representatives said, as quoted by Dnevnik.

“Besides, the two architects Gevrenov and Stoev have conflict of interest, because the former works with Bourgas municipality and the latter is a Pomorie municipality officer," Lyudmila Kyoseva, one of Atika R5’s managers, said.

“There will be a new tender procedure. There are two alternatives – to wait for the court’s ruling or to settle the dispute with the two architectural firms, persuading them to recall their claims and, in cooperation with the municipality, to decide on expanding the procurement without splitting Bourgas into the composite villages,” Gagaouzov said.

Investment interest has significantly changed since the moment of assigning the procurement, which necessitates the accession of additional areas to the municipality’s area, according to Bourgas mayor Dimitur Nikolov.propertywisebulgaria.com