The newest attraction at the resort is floodlights installed at the Snejanka 3 slope as well as the Stanata (The Wall), Pamporovo’s most demanding slope. The media statement also says the complex is equipped with a new dental and first aid medical centre, Medicus Alfa, which will operate 24-hours.

The resort currently has more than 19km of slopes, 95 per cent of which can be serviced by snow cannons if needed. A brand new six-seater lift has also been installed as well as a recreational park and an “extreme park” all within the premises.

Finally, the report’s authorities believe that with the inauguration of the new border crossing point between Bulgaria and Greece at Zlatograd, many people in northern Greece will visit the resort, thus boosting the local economy.

Greek tour operators have been invited to attend the official inauguration ceremony on December 19. Tourists are also expected to flock from Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro after the visa regime for the aforementioned countries is officially dropped the same day.

The carrier is S7 Airlines, described in a report by Bulgarian news agency Focus as the second-largest airline in Russia after Aeroflot.

Flights will be once-weekly on Fridays.

The airline has several connecting flights to destinations in the Middle East, which could boost passenger flow to Plovdiv, Focus said.

An upgrade of Plovdiv Airport was completed in 2009 after an investment of about 40 million leva, but more funds will be required to revamp the airport completely.

The airport, frequently used by tourists headed for Pamporovo and other Rhodope destinations, is said to service about two million passengers a year.

The Greek farmers strike was scheduled to start at 11am on January 18 and the farmers duly sealed off the border, but only for lorries. According to Greek authorities, lorries queuing on the border would be allowed to trickle through between 3pm until 5pm. However, vehicles ferrying timber and dairy products would not be allowed to pass, Dnevnik said.

For the time being, the other three border crossing points between Bulgaria and Greece were operating normally, although it was uncertain for how long.

Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry and border police have warned Bulgarians not to travel to Greece unless “absolutely necessary”. Authorities say that any trips to Greece while the blockade is enforced are likely to result in “serious delays, traffic jams and substantial financial losses”.

Greek daily Kathimerini said that more farmers from Serres were expected to descend on the Promachonas crossing on the border with Bulgaria from January 18, and that wider protests could follow in coming days as farmers stepped up their demands. The blockades are expected to last at least five days.

We were having lunch a short falling distance from the beginner’s slopes in Pamporovo, while her husband and my wife were off further up Snezhanka peak, skiing on slopes appropriate to their respective degrees of skill.

The Irish couple was from a town just south of the Northern Irish border. For her husband, it was the latest of many visits he had made in the past 20 years. It was her fourth, and she and two of her small children were sharing a novice skiing class with me. She laughingly confessed it was not the first time that she was trying to learn to ski. This time was to prove no success either. She and the children did not turn up after lunch on day two, and after that I found myself by default in an individual class. Not a bad thing, although she and the little children had made good company for me; but we Africans need special attention in skiing classes, because we are just not used to this crunchy white stuff called snow.

Back to lunch, and back to the Irish. Of her husband, the tourist told me: “he just loves Bulgaria. And so do I”.

There were many accents like hers to be heard in Pamporovo in that week, cheering each other on down the slopes, keeping the bar people busy, and occasionally braving an attempt to haggle with Pamporovo’s taxi drivers.

All this past year I had followed with great interest the unfolding saga of Bulgaria’s tourist industry. The Sofia Echo takes the subject sufficiently seriously that we run a column on it every week. Of course, few Bulgarian newspapers of note had failed to record the reports published in foreign countries about tourism in Bulgaria.

Conventional wisdom has come down to a number of points. One is that Bulgaria’s tourism industry is ever-growing. Another is that a threat to it is that the country will not remain affordable, and related to this point is that the country will have to do a lot more than simply sell itself on the basis of being cheaper than other destinations. A further, and much-reported, issue has been that of “construction tourism” at seaside and winter resorts, with construction continuing during the respective high seasons, and alienating visitors.

Well yes, I had seen media reports of some controversy about construction continuing at Pamporovo, although during our daily commuting between our hotel and the slopes, I saw no evidence of it. Yes, Pamporovo is less “affordable” than it was when we first visited together four years ago.

Time for a few realities. The Irish tourist couple did not regard cost as any kind of factor. Before you rush to say that spending leva means nothing to wealthy Europeans, this is a couple composed of a husband who is a teacher, and a wife who broke off her career eight years ago to produce their three children – the youngest just 11 months ago.

What was it this couple enthused about? The atmosphere. The people – Bulgarians, themselves. As the tourist put it to me, “the hospitality, the warmth, the ability to have a good time, to put themselves out for us”.

I wish all the skeptics could have heard this conversation, including those who say that Bulgarians have learnt nothing about the service ethic.

Listening to her, I responded that the night before our conversation, I had seen BNT’s programme Dalekogled, which had featured an Irish expatriate saying that he had felt very much at home in the past four years here because, he believed, the Irish and Bulgarians had very much in common, at the level of the soul and in approach to life.

She agreed, and said she believed that was one of the reasons her husband had come back so often.

When I met him, I said to her husband that I was very glad to meet a “return tourist” because of concerns that people would come to the country only once, tick it off their list – or go home with bad word of mouth because of “construction tourism” or bad service – and never come back.

He laughed, his face red with the exertion of the slopes, and said he hoped to come back many, many times.

His wife did not feel in the least deprived by her continuing inadequacy at learning to ski.
“The apres-ski is the best thing, after all, isn’t it?”

The attractions of Pamporovo’s bars and restaurants were, it seems, one of the reasons that she and some of the other tourists removed themselves from the slopes at one stage or another. “Bulgarian wine is very good, but it goes down rather too easily. So I’m feeling a bit pale today. Still, I wish it were easier to get it in Ireland. The stuff they export really isn’t the best”.

I smiled when she asked me whether or not the country was in the European Union. Living every day with coverage of the issue of whether or not Bulgaria will deal adequately with major issues like judiciary reform and thus meet its January 2007 appointment, I found it refreshing to meet someone to whom it was not a real issue, and who had half an impression that Bulgaria already had achieved this Holy Grail of European respectability.

All around me foreign tourists, including one Western diplomat and his wife who were happily incognito, were having a good time, and it is correct to record my own impressions, those of someone who is now in his fourth year of living in Bulgaria. In a word: good. Rental of ski equipment, and the lessons, were not cheap but nor were they exorbitant. Service everywhere was decent. With the exception of New Year’s Day, machines cleaned the roads to keep them safe. There was much more signage in English (and in better English) than during my first visit four years ago.

And if I sound in a good mood, it is not that the people of Pamporovo slipped me a few leva to write something nice about them. It is because, with the very patient teaching and encouragement of a young lady called Biserka, and with a tumble or four, and a few stops to catch my breath, on New Year’s Day, I somehow made it down the green slope of Snezhanka. For a middle-aged African, that’s not bad, don’t you think? It’s enough to make me want to go back.

All Bulgarian – Greek border checkpoints, including the newly opened Zlatograd-Xanthi checkpoint, were operating normally on January 16, media reports said, after the previous day the Ilinden – Eksohi checkpoint was blockaded for 90 minutes.

People should avoid travelling to Greece, Bulgarian news agency Focus quoted deputy regional governor of Blagoevgrad Georgi Bahanov as saying after the meeting at Kulata border checkpoint with his counterpart deputy regional governor of Serres, Tomas Syambris, and a representative of the police Nikolas Rizos.

The Greek side offered an alternative route for drivers through Zlatarevo border checkpoint, Valandovo and Gevgeli.

Farmers have said that they would continue the protest for a further five days from January 18, but this depends on the outcome of negotiations. The farmers want to be paid 2009 subsidies that are in arrears, and have indicated that the strike could become indefinite until this happens.

Bulgaria said that bodies including the border police, Bulgarian Red Cross, emergency services and local authorities had been briefed on steps to take in the event of a sustained blockade and were co-ordinating their actions.

Bulgarian National Television (BNT) said that the January 16 meeting between the deputy governors of Blagoevgrad and Serres was held to discuss how to deal with traffic flow in the event of a further blockade.

Bulgaria was requesting clear rules on how traffic flow would work, not only for light vehicles but also for TIR lorries, BNT said.

Greek daily Kathimerini said that wider protests could follow in the days ahead as farmers stepped up their demands.

On January 15, about 120 tractors were used to close the national road near the Strymonas bridge in northern Greece. Motorists had to use a diversion which took them onto the old Thessaloniki-Kavala highway via Asprovalta. The same day, farmers from Kastoria also set up intermittent blocks on the road leading to the Albanian border.

Kathimerini said that more farmers from Serres were expected to descend on the Promachonas crossing on the border with Bulgaria from January 18.

On January 16, before the meeting between the Blagoevgrad and Serres officials started, Focus quoted Todor Georgiev, head of the regional customs office in Smolyan, as saying that Bulgarian motorists should check the situation before travelling to Greece.

This could be done at the Interior Ministry website, and people should check news websites as well, Georgiev said.

Bulgarian citizens travelling to Turkey were advised to use the Lesovo and Malko Tarnovo border checkpoints.

The alternatives to the Kapitan Andreevo – Kalotina border checkpoints are the crossings along the Bulgarian-Serbian border: Vrashka Chuka, Bregovo, Stezimirovtsi and Oltomantsi or to Romania via the Danube Bridge and to Macedonia via Gyueshevo crossing, Focus said.

1. We will see reduced prices for ski passes and ski school.
2. The sloped have been better prepared for the ski season.
3. 118 snow cannons have been installed and commissioned, these snow cannons are York and of a very high standard. The snow canons will work at zero degrees or lower.
4. 5 grooming kits have been purchased, 1 new and 4 fully reconditioned, these machines will distribute the snow throughout the resort.
5. 50 new guns to shoot the snow have been purchased they are located on the mid station red run number 5 and red run number 2.
6. There are two new ski runs from Snejanka to Studenets and they are both intermediate runs.
7. A new kinder garden for children aged 4 plus with new facilities will be opened in the resort.

The statistics show that, on an annual basis the growth of buildings completed accounts for 6.9%, while the increase of new apartments has grown by +30.2%. For the period May to July 2009, 679 properties were erected with 5,888 flats in total. For that period alone, there is a +51.1% increase in new apartments nationwide.

Varna led the way with 157 new buildings constructed, with a total of 1,204 new units, followed by Bourgas who had 134 buildings recently constructed making a total of 1,665 new units and Sofia with 35 new buildings recently constructed as well as 549 new apartments. The report indicated that there was no new construction in the towns of Razgrad, Montana and Haskovo in the same period.

The figures indicate that the total new marketable area consists of more than 411,000sqm of apartment space, or a +15.9% increase compared to the corresponding period for 2008. However, according to the report, on average, flats are becoming smaller. In the second quarter of 2009, the average living area in new construction amounted to 75.5sqm, which in the third quarter decreased to 69.9sqm.

If you’re intending to buy a home in Bulgaria, you can go for a Bulgarian mortgage loan. However, you should assess your financial capacity before starting off. How much house can I afford is a familiar query that comes up in the mind of every home buyer. Use a home affordability calculator to find this out. The Bulgarian property sector is showing signs of gradual development.

Try to get a comprehensive idea about your repayment capacity prior to going for a mortgage loan in Bulgaria. This is important irrespective of the fact whether you’re a first time homebuyer or refinancing your existing mortgage. Various online mortgage calculators are available that can help you decide how much mortgage you should borrow and which loan term is most convenient for you.

For purchasing a home in Bulgaria, there are some important types of calculators that you can use such as maximum borrowing calculator, stamp duty calculator, loan to value (LTV) calculator and deposit calculator.

There are a number of mortgage lenders in Bulgaria that offer an all-inclusive range of loan products for people who are keen to buy a home in Bulgaria. Presently, the terms and conditions of mortgage lending in Bulgaria have been made somewhat stringent. For this reason, you might face some difficulties while shopping around for a mortgage loan in Bulgaria.

You have to furnish details of your income when you’re going to apply for a mortgage in Bulgaria. The amount of your income should be double of what it was one year ago. For instance, if your income was 2,000 Euros last year, it must be 4,000 Euros now. This permits you to request for a mortgage.

Forecasts are being made that the number of borrowers searching for mortgages in Bulgaria would be growing in late 2009. The reason behind this is the slump in house prices would be pulling more and more consumers to get mortgage loans.

The Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation and the Bulgarian Dei Energy will build an EUR 200 M ecological energy park near the Northern Bulgarian city of Pleven. Photo by BGNES
The Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation and the Bulgarian Dei Energy will build an EUR 200 M ecological energy park near the Northern Bulgarian city of Pleven, the Pari Daily reported.

The park will be built on 1,800 dekares of abandoned land in the Gulyantsi Municipality, in the Pleven Region. There project will include both wind mills and photovoltaic panels with a total capacity of 160 MW. The construction is scheduled to begin in 2010, while the completion is planned for 2012. Many local contractors will be involved.

“Our research in the region shows that the wind mills will be able to operate nearly 2 000 hours a year, and the investment amount will be recovered in 8-10 years”, the Dei Energy CEO, Ivan Tihov, explained. The photovoltaic panels will be located on the Danube river’s shore, producing energy of 1,200-1,300 hours a year, he added.

Dei Energy has had similar projects near Bulgaria’s Sliven. The company will start another wind park there in the next few days. Its power will be 150 MW.

“We plan to build several renewable energy parks around Bulgaria with total a power of 500-600 MW”, Tihov said.

Balmoral Capital Holdings, financing arm of Balmoral Bulgaria SPV, an integrated solar power plant development company, has signed a 25-year agreement with Apex Solar to organize approvals for 18 photovoltaic power plants in Bulgaria, according to SolarBuzz.

The plants will range from 1MW to 5MW for a total of 144MW across the whole 18. Each plant designed will be organized by Apex Solar to be developed for panel delivery in early 2010.

“The organization and contract building now in PV power plants in Bulgaria is a major milestone for our Balmoral Companies as our subsidiary Balmoral Bulgaria,” said Rodney Kincaid, Managing Partner of Balmoral Capital and CEO of Balmoral Financial.

Kincaid added that the company is looking for competitive bids on high-performance PV panels, with the results of the winning bid given in the next 30 days. “There are so many high technically performing panels with great financial returns. It is hard to settle to one manufacturer,” he said.

In the future the company plans to build 130-144 PV plants in Bulgaria and move to other European markets by 2011. Various income funds are discussing buying the income streams from the projects.

Indian wind turbine manufacturer, Suzlon Energy Ltd, has entered into an agreement with Technomash to deliver six Suzlon S88 2.1 MW wind turbines to a wind farm in the Varna region in Bulgaria.

The world’s fifth and India’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, Suzlon Energy Ltd, will supply six of its S88 2.1 MW wind turbines to the Bulgarian industrial group, Technomash, during 2009 and 2010 for installation on a wind farm close to Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.

“Bulgaria offers an excellent wind regime and supportive investment climate, and we aim to expand the wind market in the country,” said Erik Winther Pedersen, CEO of Suzlon Wind Energy.

“This is both an important order and important new market for Suzlon. Europe forms the largest market for wind energy, and we are focused on expanding our footprint in the market,” added Sumant Sinha, COO of Suzlon Energy Limited.

According to Suzlon, Bulgaria offers considerable potential for wind farm development, with around 3,400 MW of wind resource that can be developed in the mid-term. Furthermore, the Bulgarian government has announced a generous feed-in tariff for wind energy and has set a maximum of 11% of gross energy consumption to come from renewable energy sources by 2010.

For additional information:
Suzlon

We would like to announce the forthcoming 6-th International Congress on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources for South East Europe – 14th to 16th April 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

With world-known experts invited as key speakers and more than 600 specialists and investors expected to attend, the Congress promises to be a leading event for South-Eastern Europe. The parallel Exhibition will showcase the latest technologies, equipment and products in the field of EE and RES.

The two events give great opportunity not only to exchange valued knowledge and best practices with leading experts from EU but to meet face to face producers and traders from the Region of South-Eastern Europe for development of the local energy sources and for more energy independence by reaching the EU target 20%-20%-20%.

Please find at
http://www.viaexpo.com/congress-ee-vei/docs-web/EE_PSR_2009.pdf
the Post Event Report for the 5th Congress & Exhibition.

Congress 2009: 43 speakers from 12 countries; 400 attendees from 28 countries.
Exhibition 2009: 124 direct exhibitors from 11 countries; 3219professional visitors from 34 countries.

Exhibits/main sectors:

Energy Efficiency: Cogeneration; Energy-Efficient Equipment and Technologies in Agriculture, Chemical Sector, Industry, Transportation, Utilities; Energy Saving Heating; Energy Saving Technologies for Industrial and Home Lighting; Environmental Monitoring; Environment Protection Equipment Heat, Water and Gas Regulating Equipment; Lighting Controlling Systems; Meters for Heat, Water, Gas Thermal Pumps; Waste Treatment and Disposal; Waste-to-Energy
Energy Efficient Construction: Eco-Friendly Construction Materials; Facade and roof skylights; Passive House and Low Energy Building; Solar-control glazing; Sound and Heat Insulation; Thermo graphics; Walls, doors and roofing
Renewable energy and related systems: Bioenergy; Geothermal, Hydro, Solar, Wind energy; PV systems;Hydrogen technologies, etc.
Services: Consultation; District Heating; Emission trade;Energy certification; Energy Distribution and Storage
Financing; Heat accounting; Media; Retrofitting of buildings;Specialised software

Exhibitors’ profile: Manufacturers, importers, exporters,representatives

Visitors’ profile: Visitors from energy sector, ecology, EE and RES, ministries, municipalities, embassies, banks, financial and consultant services, media, construction, associations and NGOs, petrol and chemical industry, research and education institututions, electrical and electronic equipment, transport, all kind of industry, agriculture and wood processing, mining industry

The EU has finalized its plan on how to deal with climate change and energy security. Yesterday, the EU Parliament officially approved the climate and energy package as agreed by EU leaders at last weeks summit.

The package includes legally binding targets to cut GHG emissions by 20%, establish a 20% share for renewable energy, and improve energy efficiency by 20%, by 2020.
With all 785 elected MEPs present in Strasbourg, Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the package with 610 votes for and 60 against amid 29 abstentions.

The climate and energy package include deals on six main proposals: energy from renewables, amendments to the EU’s emission tradingscheme, how to distribute reduction effort in the non-traded sector, reducing emissions from new cars, CCS, and transport fuel quality (see Commission’s Q&A on each of the proposals).

The main agreements in each area are as following:

-The Renewable Energy Directive: sets legally binding targets for each Member State, in order to reach an overall EU target of 20% share of renewable energy by 2020, as well as actions to remove administrative barriers and other burdens. It also includes the 10% target for renewables in transport.

-EU ETS: As from 2013 an emissions cap will be set at EU level and will be cut each year to reach a 21% cut in 2020, while increasing the level of auctioning in the system. Overall, more than 50% of allowances will be auctioned from 2013, and the proportion will rise each year. Member States are recommended to use at least half of their auctioning revenues on measures to combat climate change.

Industrial installations not subject to carbon leakage will be required to buy 20% of allowances in 2013 rising to 70% in 2020 and 100% in 2027. Operators at risk of carbon leakage that invest in the most efficient technologies will receive allowances for free in accordance with a benchmark based on best available technology. Offset credits will be allowed but the amount will have to be below half of the reduction effort.

-Effort sharing: small-scale emitters in sectors including transport, buildings, agriculture and waste, (some 60% of total GHG emissions in the EU) will have to reduce emissions by an average of 10% compared to 2005 by 2020. Two thirds of their reduction commitments could come from ‘offset credits’.

-CCS: a Directive on carbon capture and storage will provide the legal framework needed to further develop this technology. 300 million allowances from the EU ETS will also be made available for funding 12 commercial pilot projects.

-Emissions from new cars: new binding emission targets are set to ensure that emissions from the new car fleet are reduced to an average of 120g CO2/km by 2015 ( a phasing-in of the target will start in 2012).

-Fuel Quality Directive: It will place an obligation on suppliers to reduce GHG from the entire fuel production chain by 6% by 2020. A review in 2012 will consider increasing the ambition level to a 10% greenhouse gas reduction by 2020.

Critics of the climate and energy package

Strong criticism to the revised package came, as expected, from environmental NGOs who raising questions regarding its ‘environmental integrity’.

They argue that in exchange for a deal, the EU’s ambitions were watered down through concessions aimed to reduce compliance costs for heavy industry and coal dependant power sectors, following pressure by Germany, Poland and other eastern European countries.

Most of the criticisms were directed at the fact that too many free emissions allowances were still to be handed out, and that the package allows EU countries to “offset” a substantial part of their carbon reductions.

Some 500 mln euro will be invested in wind farms in northeastern Bulgaria by the end of 2009, said Velizar Kiryakov, chairman of the association of eco energy producers. Another 100 mln levs will be spent on photovoltaic systems.

The favourable climate in this part of the country helps recoup the investments within eight years on average.

US company AES is developing the biggest wind farm project in Bulgaria. It is the investor in the Maritsa East coal-fired power plant and is building a 156 MW wind farm near Kavarna, on the northern coast.

Spanish company Eolica will raise a 160 MW wind park locked between Suvorovo and Valchi Dol, near the northern coastal city of Varna.

A few smaller projects of Austrian and Bulgarian companies with a total capacity of 105 MW will go online by the end of 2008.

Kiryakov sounded the alarm that Bulgaria is lagging drastically behind global and European requirements on percentage of renewable energy. Some 11 pct of Bulgaria’s power output should come from alternative energy sources by 2013 and 16 pct in 2020, under a draft EU directive pending approval by the end of the year. The requirement for industrial producers to buy CO2 emissions will hike electricity prices to include greenhouse gas emissions, whose cost is expected to surge to 50 or 60 euro per tone.

Now renewable energy makes 9.1 pct of Bulgaria total output with wind farms generating 9.0 pct of it. The remainder is produced by wind generators, photovoltaic systems and biomass.

The document covers 82 measures, structured in eight parts. In the part “Sustainability of the macroeconomic system”, the maintenance of a balanced budget for this year and activation of Bulgaria’s activity concerning the accession to the ÅRÌ-2 mechanism has been provided. In the part “Sustainability of the financial system”, ineffective expenses reduction in the public budget structures by 15 percent, maintenance of the flat rate of the value added tax at 20 percent and provision of mutual access to the information systems of the Customs and the National Revenue Agency has been laid down. The third part of the measures is related to improving the business environment, the fourth one – to activating the agrarian production. The Deputy Prime Minister Djankov added that in the short-term economic measures, the infrastructure projects to be implemented during that period have been stated in detail. For the first time ever, an analysis of the infrastructure projects in the field of ecology has also been included. The other parts of the programme are related to encouraging employment and social assistance, development of the knowledge-based economy, effective management of the resources from the European Funds.

The document integrated all 32 measures, which were approved yesterday by the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC). The discussions in the Working Group at the NCTC of more measures for which no consent has been achieved by the social partners up to now will continue, reported Minister Mladenov. He expressed his satisfaction of the joint work in the tripartite format and in the Sectoral Councils within each Ministry, as well as of the Regional Councils for Tripartite Cooperation, headed by the Regional Governors. In this way, the social dialogue is conducted at many levels guaranteeing good results, added Minister Mladenov.

Bulgaria’s prime minister is now Mr Boykov Borisov, he has recently been elected, he himself is heavily invested in Pamporovo and he will be ensuring that Pamporovo will be given all the funding needed to make it a world class resort, Pamporovo will be his priority.

Pamporovo AD (the company responsible for ski runs and Pamporovo in general) there has been a change in management this year. They have been working all summer to improve all ski runs, taking out trees and rocks etc. All pipe work for the new 180 snow cannons have been installed, 180 snow cannons installed and commissioned, 4 new grooming machines delivered. Ski passes will be reduced this year, the prices will be available to the public within the next 4 weeks. They aim to improve service throughout the resort and are in negotiations with café’s and restaurant to cap prices and improve their service and quality of food.

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