This morning, an obstacle to the construction of the Struma motorway was removed. This was stated at a briefing by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Plamen Abrovski, who together with the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, Arch. Ivan Shishkov conducted a joint inspection of the bypass road of the town of Kresna under construction and the terrain along the route.
Minister Abrovski explained that in 2025, two parallel processes began in the state, namely the procedure for coordinating the detailed development plan for the construction of the section and the one for updating the order for determining the forests in the old-age phase.
„In February 2026, the detailed development plan was approved, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the state forestry enterprises coordinated it without comments“, added the Minister of Agriculture.
According to him, two months later, a property with an area of nearly 80 decares was included in the updated order for the forests in the old-age phase, which almost entirely falls within the route of the already approved project.
„Two months later, eight days before the end of the cabinet "Gyurov", the Minister of Agriculture issues an order including nearly 80 acres of old-growth forests along the route, for which a detailed development plan has already been issued. For what reason and how this was achieved, I cannot say. Whether it was due to ignorance, negligence or someone misled the former Minister of Agriculture, I also cannot say“, commented Plamen Abrovski.
He emphasized that the inclusion of the property could have created a serious obstacle to the implementation of the project.
“I refuse to accept that a Bulgarian minister would knowingly do something that would complicate the construction of a national site and endanger the health of citizens who constantly travel along this road“, Minister Abrovski also said.
He pointed out that a new order was issued this morning, by which the problematic territories are removed from the regime of forests in the old age phase and in their place other properties with suitable characteristics are included.
“This morning we issued a new order, by which these forests are removed and in their place real forests in the old age phase are included, with 20 decares more. We are doing this to ensure that Bulgarian citizens are assured that no one will be harmed and that at the same time we will not allow any obstacle to the construction of the Struma motorway, Minister Abrovski concluded.