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Home > Projects > ARCHIVED: Kresna gorge / Struma motorway, Bulgaria

ARCHIVED: Kresna gorge / Struma motorway, Bulgaria

The Struma motorway is tragically emblematic of an EU-funded project that has wrought havoc on European biodiversity and the wishes of local communities. In spite of two decades of protest by civil society and citizens, part of the Struma motorway section is planned directly through the Kresna gorge, a Natura 2000 site and Bulgaria’s richest biodiversity hotspot.

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Key facts

Financing:

  1. EIB: EUR 57 million
  2. EU funds: EUR 605 million

Location:

Key issues

1. The proposed motorway cuts through the Kresna gorge, threatening to drive dozens of unique species to extinction. Read more>> 2. The road also endangers the livelihood of local people who rely on their fertile land, clean air, and tourism opportunities. Read more>> 3. The case points to substantial loopholes in the management of EU funds, which allow the destruction of a valuable natural site. Read more>> 4. At least one viable alternative routing outside the gorge exists, but the Bulgarian government refuses to acknowledge its benefits. Read more>>

Background

The Bulgarian government planned to build the Struma motorway many years ago. The initial route of the motorway was supposed to go directly through the Kresna gorge, a Natura2000 site, and the town of Kresna.

In 2002, an alternative routing plan had been designed by independent engineers, passing outside the gorge and avoiding inhabited areas, arable lands, the most precious natural habitats and biological corridors, and the mineral springs in the region.

After intervention by the European Commission and the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention, the Bulgarian government initiated a new Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in 2006 to ensure that all proposed variants for the motorway were properly studied.

In 2007, as a result of the final EIA, locals, road authorities, non-governmental organisations and relevant ministries agreed on a concrete route for the motorway outside of the Kresna Gorge, only to abandon it in 2017 under the pressure of construction companies.

In 2017 and 2018 the Bulgarian government and parliament changed laws and rules restricting democratic civil rights in the country to allow special “fast-track approval” of strategic projects like the Struma Motorway. It has become significantly more difficult to challenge the project of “national strategic importance”.

TAKE ACTION


Over 160,000 petition to save the Kresna Gorge

Thousands of citizens across Europe signed a petition calling that European laws for the protection of nature are respected and the pristine valley of Kresna Gorge in Bulgaria is saved from destruction. Don’t stand by, add your name to the petition.

Photo: “Save Kresna gorge” coalition

Invaluable natural site

Kresna gorge is home to 92 protected species, and part of the EU’s Natura 2000 network of protected areas. More butterfly species live on one square kilometre of the Kresna gorge than in all of the UK.

Since construction of the motorway started in 2011, the traffic through the Kresna gorge has caused severe decline of the populations of protected bats, turtles and snakes.

Any construction work in the Kresna gorge risks exacerbating and making irreversible damage to the protected habitats and species of the gorge.

Photos: “Save Kresna gorge” coalition

Impacts on local livelihoods

The town of Kresna at the southern end of the Kresna gorge will suffer from the construction as well: the motorway will pass at a distance of 30 metres from outlying homes and the local school.

The people of Kresna would lose their most fertile agriculture lands, their clean air and the possibilities of tourism development in the region. Ecotourism, such as white water rafting, kayaking and biking, has already developed in the Kresna gorge area and will be significantly hampered by the motorway construction.

Diverting the motorway out of the gorge and away from the town will protect the natural environment and will turn the existing road into a tourist route, as opposed to a massive transportation corridor.

Photo: Svetlana Mihova | “Save Kresna gorge” coalition
Photo: “Save Kresna gorge” coalition

Maladministration of public money

In January 2019 we petitioned the Ombudsman to end the prolonged maladministration by the Commission of EUR 605 million in EU Cohesion  funds that the Bulgarian government intends to spend on the Struma motorway.

In 2013 the Commission conditioned funding of the Struma motorway on “avoiding the environmentally sensitive Kresna Gorge”, a prerequisite for further financing of other parts of the motorway. But insufficient oversight of Bulgaria by the Commission has allowed the project to proceed in spite of violations to the EU’s Habitats Directive, the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive, and international conventions.

Costs analysis

The decision by the Bulgarian government to extend the southbound routing of the motorway through the Kresna gorge has been called a compromise to enable a speedier and less expensive completion of the motorway.

Yet according to our analyses, the costs of construction of this ‘version’ will be the same – if not more – than if the  motorway was constructed entirely outside the gorge. This is because our calculations include more than just the construction costs of the project, but also the economic opportunities resulting from lost livelihoods of local farmers whose lands in the area of Kresna will be appropriated and destroyed, and as well as costs to tourism like rafting, which is a key contributor to the economic activity of Kresna.

Latest news

Бернската конвенция отхвърли исканията на зелените за спиране на АМ Струма през Кресненското дефиле

Bankwatch in the media | 2 December, 2022

За седми пореден път представителите на 47-те страни, подписали Бернската конвенция, отхвърлиха исканията на българските еколози за спиране …

Read more

It’s time for the European Commission to act and protect the Kresna Gorge biodiversity sanctuary

Blog entry | 16 September, 2022

After years of trying to use EU funds to build a motorway through a Natura 2000 zone, Bulgaria now has a chance to spend EU money to counter the increasing traffic in Kresna Gorge and protect its biodiversity.

Read more

Природозащитници: дори и да строим през Кресна без европари, евроконтрол ще има

Bankwatch in the media | 21 January, 2020

След като правителството се отказа от европейското финансиране за лот 3.2. за автомагистрала “Струма”, има риск българските граждани да платят два пъти цената на строежа през Кресненското дефиле – веднъж в плащания на строителните фирми и втори път в р

Read more

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Related publications

EU funds maladministration complaint to the European Ombudsman

Official document | 31 January, 2019 | Download PDF

The matter of concern is the use of EU Cohesion funds for deterioration of the conservation and integrity of habitats and species in Kresna gorge (Bulgaria) protected by EU law and International Conventions. The EC did not prevent and ensure that the S


Open letter to European Commission on proposed restriction of civil rights in Bulgaria

Advocacy letter | 21 July, 2017 | Download PDF


Illegal damage and threat of destruction of the Kresna Gorge, Bulgaria – full complaint

Official document | 12 July, 2017 | Download PDF

This complaint to the EU Commission was lodged to save the protected Bulgarian Kresna Gorge from a destructive motorway that received EU funding. It alleges that the construction of the controversial motorway is already breaking EU nature laws, and war


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