News

  France is leader in the world classification; Bulgaria attracts with low prices and favourable climate

  Bulgaria is the 34th country in the world among those determined as the best places for living – reveals the latest classification of the American magazine “International Living”, which was published this week under the title “Index for Life Quality”. Bulgaria shares that high position in the list of 193 countries with Panama and Slovakia. Great Britain takes the 37th place – it is the next country after Bulgaria, and Greece and Cyprus come after it with even results. Lithuania, Poland and Romania are the next countries in the classification. Romania takes the 45th place together with South Africa, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Chile and South Korea.

  Bulgaria takes one of the first places because of the low prices and favourable climate, according to “Scotsman” newspaper.

  France is absolute leader in the classification, in spite of the high taxes, bureaucracy and the high cost of living. Still, it remains the best place for living in the world because of the high-speed trains, the good hospitals, its culture, its ski resorts, its beaches and mild climate. In addition, Paris is the most beautiful and romantic city in the world – says Laura Shedrian, Management Director of “International Living”. It is said that the cost of living outside Paris is much lower, and a house could be bought for less than 100 000 dollars.

  The next countries that take places among the first five in the world are Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and USA. Argentina takes place in “top 10” for the first time. “Australia is a very attractive destination, especially if you are young” – writes the magazine, thus explaining its second place in the classification.

  USA used to take the first place for 21 years, but last year they took the 7th place because of the fall-back in the sphere of civil liberties.

  During the middle ages, when Vidin was the capital of the Bdinsko Kingdom – 1360, the town was very important trade centre that had close business relationship with most of the biggest towns of the ancient world.

  It seems that the glory of Vidin as trade centre revives as FairPlay International starts the building of a great trade complex to the value of 10 million Euro. Vidin doesn’t leave behind from the new trends in the field of development of modern malls. After the appearance of three trade centres in Sofia there is a real revolution of developing of the big trade centres in Bulgaria. This initiative in Vidin will be successful because of the constant stream of visitors from Romania and Serbia. The forthcoming building of Danube Bridge 2, that connects Vidin with Kalafat, will make the connection between Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia easier and the presence of the mall will definitely popularize the Danube town in Bulgaria and in the neighbor countries as well.

  The mall will be built at the place of the abandoned theatre constriction. The terrain is already bought from the municipality for 615 000 BGN. It is situated in the very centre of Vidin near by the symbol of the town, Baba Vida fortress. The deserted construction will be detonated to give a seat to the new building - Mall of Vidin.

  The Zmeyovo project at the amount of 7 million Euro is one of the first eco-tourist attraction applying on the principle of the public and private partnership. The project is a priority principle in the European Union’s regional stimulation strategy. For the support of such a project, a Municipality on the one part, and on the other part - a private investor or a non-governmental organization have to take part in its realization.

  “We still do not want to reveal in details the attractions that will be built near Zmeyovo. We shall do this after the project’s approval.” – said Tanya Videva, the Chairperson of the Regional Tourism Association in Stara Zagora. The eco paths will run from the Zmeyovo holes to the very Valley of the Thracian Kings in the region of Yagoda village, and the megalith near Buzovgrad, reaching Miruley peak – the highest one in that part of Sredna Gora. There will be paths for pedestrians, horse riders and bicyclists. The renting of horses or bicycles will be possible.

  The initiators of the project do believe that it will foster the initiative in the region.

  A Lithuanian company starts construction of a “a city within the city” in Sofia, for the amount of 500€ million. It will build a multi-functional center comprising of residences, offices and parking lots on the site of the former factory “Balkancar – 6 September”, on area of 200 decares. The total area of the complex will be 750 thousand square meters. In the trade center, there will be a hypermarket, places for rest and places of entertainment, restaurants, cinemas, bowling and a skating-rink. The offices will be situated in a center with a 30-storey panoramic tower. The residences will be situated in separate buildings. The construction will be executed by stages. The first one will be fulfilled for the period 2007-2009. The company has received a first class investor certificate.

  An Estonian company starts the construction of a town of approximately 300 one-family houses, in the Sofia village Kladnitsa, on the south mountainside of Vitosha. The infrastructure is finished and the building works will soon be started. The investment will amount to more than 70€ million Euro. The area where the town is being built is 400 decares big. The project envisages 12 types of houses with area between 180 and 330 square meters together with the garages and verandas. The town will have two public buildings of 2,5 thousand square meters each, with a nursery school, a restaurant with a bar, a supermarket, shops and offices. Besides that complex, the company has the intention to design three more similar housing projects and two techno parks.

  A businessman from Silistra announced before the Municipality that he would build a housing complex there, on area of nearly 40 decares, near the Danube River. The complex will comprise of 40 houses and 330 apartments. The investment will amount to more than 15€ million. The transformation of the present “Parvi Mai” mill is also envisaged in the complex.

  The construction of an industrial park on a piece of land near the future Danube Bridge 2 will be one of the greatest investments in Vidin, amounting to approximately 70€ million. The plot has already been bought from the Municipality and the construction works, financed by Italian funds, are to begin this year.

  The construction of Business Park Varna - the most contemporary high-technology complex in the country - continues during 2007. Fifty million euros will be invested in the complex. It will comprise 9 buildings situated on total area of 67 000 square meters.

  A major American company will invest 200€ million near Sofia Airport. The complex will comprise of multi-functional business center with office buildings, logistics base, storehouse areas and a hotel. “Sofia Airport Center” will be constructed on 300 meters’ distance from the Airport’s new terminal, on a lot of 100 decares. The building works will begin during the spring and they are to be completed in a 5 years’ term.

  Another development company plans building of an original supplement to “Business Park Sofia”. The new project will be located in immediate proximity of “Business Park Sofia”, as well as near “Residential Park”, which is now being constructed on the ring-road.

  One of Bulgaria's priorities is to build a highway connecting Thessalonica, Sofia and the Danube cities of Vidin and Lom (Bulgaria) before 2013. So reads a chapter in a joint declaration signed by ministers of transport Peter Mutafchiev (Bulgaria) and Mihalis Liapis (Greece). The ministers also agreed to step up the development of Pan-European transport corridors 4 and 10, improve the railway link between Thessaloniki and Sofia, increase personnel at the border checkpoints of the two countries and liberalize regular bus lines connecting Bulgaria and Greece. In a joint declaration the parties committed themselves to launch a direct train Sofia-Athens and schedule more flights connecting two major Balkan capitals.

  Or, better said, about Pchelinski Bani. For a start, it is one hour away from Sofia, driving on the (very good) motorway to Plovdiv. Then, the view from Rila Mountain is absolutely stunning. With Borovets only 30km away, the village climbs into nearby hills and a stream flows through it. The climate is unexpectedly milder than in Sofia. Maybe this is what attracts storks to the place – actually, the first stork I saw in Bulgaria was in Pchelinski Bani. (I immediately tied my martenitsa on a nearby tree.)

  Pchelinski Bani is, for the time being, a very quiet place resting on a treasure: hot mineral waters (73 °C). And yes, Pchelinski Bani has a spa, dating back to communism and decaying in a sort of melancholic way. “Chistota e merilo za kulturata na choveka” (Cleanness is the measure of a man’s culture) reminds a solitary sign. The spa is still open, and because of the undisputed virtues of mineral waters, local people still go there. 

  Budget carriers increase flights to Bulgaria

  Low cost carrier Wizz Air Monday announced it will add new destinations to and from Bulgaria with its summer flight timetable.

  Starting in June, Wizz Air will fly from Bulgarian coastal city Burgas to Budapest, Katowice and Warsaw. Flights to Budapest will be available from another Bulgarian coastal city, Varna.

  At the moment, Wizz Air flies only to London from Burgas, a route serviced by rivals Bulgaria Air, Hemus Air and British Airways.

  The carrier expects to fly 150,000 passengers to and from Bulgaria in 2007.

  Budget carrier Sky Europe recently said it was launching a Mon-Sat Sofia-Vienna route from March 26.

  Sky Europe marketing and sales director Krasimir Tanev expects the share of no-frills carriers of Bulgaria's aviation market to increase from 7-8% at present to 20% by the end of 2007.

  Ryan Air is expected to open this year routes from Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second biggest city, to Britain, Spain and Germany.

  Italy's Myair and German Wings are also due to start operating to and from Sofia this summer.

  New rules have come into force about the identity cards of European Union citizens permanently resident in Bulgaria.

  The changes follow the recently adopted law for EU citizens and members of their families entering, residing and leaving Bulgaria. The law, in force since October 3 last year, makes a distinction between EU citizens and nationals of other countries. For the latter, all previous regulations remain unchanged. This distinction is in line with Bulgaria’s obligations to the EU since the country became a member state on January 1 2007.

  The new regulation replaces the identity cards (lichni karti) issued to EU citizens living in Bulgaria with new residence permit cards, or certificates as they are officially called. These certificates are still issued by the National Police Service Migration Directorate. As seen in the sample below, the new cards do not have a picture of the holder, nor do they give the national identification number (EGN in Bulgarian). The document contains only the name, sex, date of birth, date of registration, date of expiry and a police stamp, possibly making forgery very easy. Strangely enough, this change of rules was not made public by the Migration Directorate and it became known to The Sofia Echo only through a reader of the newspaper, a citizen of an EU country, whose identity card had expired and had to get a new one.

  The Sofia Echo questioned Tsvetomira Stoimenova of the Migration Directorate.

  The finance ministry and the delegation of the European Commission signed on Wednesday, January 11, the financial memorandums for 133.2 mln euro in aid from EU's ISPA program.
The Bulgarian side will provide 80 mln euro in co-financing. The resource will be divided among the projects for the renovation and expansion of the sewerage infrastructure in Sofia, Bourgas, Rousse, Sliven and Kyustendil, the modernisation of the wastewater treatment plants in the 5 cities and the construction of new plants where that is necessary.

  Money has also been allocated for technical assistance for the modernisation of the Vidin-Sofia railway and for the rehabilitation of the Plovdiv-Bourgas and Mezdra-Gorna Oryahovitsa railways.
Loan-financing will be provided by EBRD,18.9 mln euro, and the EIB, 12 mln euro.
The funding should be absorbed over the next 3 years, said finance minister Plamen Oresharski.