Tseko Minev is Bulgarian banker, president of the Bulgarian ski federation and is supposed of controlling two of the leading ski resorts including Bansko. First Investment Bank (FIBank) was founded in 1993 by Tseko Minev and Ivailo Mutafchiev with funds of questionable origin (according to wikileaks). Ivaylo Mutafchiev and Tseko Minev both hold 31.83% of the shared capital of the bank. Bulgarian NGO activists and skiers generally dislike Tseko Minev, because of his insatiable eager to expand his ski developments. He has proven himself as a threat for the Bulgarian nature. Mr. Minev has also demonstrated little care for other ski resorts or professional skiers outside of his ski clubs. Through his position as president of the national ski federation Tseko Minev has access to public funds. Each year the Bulgarian government pours millions of Euro in dubious programs with little if any effect. Those finances are not spend in transparent and reasonable ways. Instead money are being directed through the company of Radka Mineva, wife of Mr. Minev. Thus he prevents the development of the ski sport in Bulgaria.
Media control
Through lavish advertisement and marketing spendings Tseko Minev ensures strictly positive attitude from the press and TV. Leading sporting journalist travel at the expense of the Bulgarian ski federation. Fibank is sponsoring many top Bulgarian athletes. There is another well documented outrageous act of media control: An evening talk show was terminated after it aired a short cartoon, speculating that Tseko Minev and his ski resort Bansko might have been involved in corruption. Although his involvement in the cancellation of the TV show was never proven it is a fact that on the next day all advertisement of FiBank in that particular station was suspended. The allegations of corruption also could not be proven. Yet what is certain is that two consecutive governments promulgate legislation in favor of Mr. Minev’s business interest. Also, no legal actions were taken against the Bansko ski area after the Ministry of environment issued a statement that one third of the ski runs were constructed in the National Park Pirin and are being currently used without any legal grounds. May be this is due to the fact that the current Bulgarian Prime Minister appears on a major TV interview wearing merchandising clothing with the FiBank logo on his chest.
Tseko Minev and Bansko
Mr. Minev and his FiBank are directly responsible for the destruction of the Pirin Mountain and the Pirin National Park. Here are the facts:
Bansko ski area has been rapidly and consistently expanding over the past decade in breach of national and international legislations. The neglect of the laws has been well documented and has also been confirmed by supreme courtsin Bulgaria. Most of the ski lifts, constructed in the ski area, have not obtained ‘use permits’ of any kind which are required by law before they go into operation. This breach has been confirmed by the municipality thorough their web site http://bansko.bg/content/view/2395/1/lang,en/.
Tzeko Minev and his supporters claim that should a halt is being put on further development of the ski area this will be a “catastrophe” for the local tourism. This statement is profoundly wrong and misleading. First of all, the ski season in Bulgaria and in Bansko in particular is insignificantly short and can hardly sustain the local population – a hundred days per year cannot generateyear-round income. None of the ski lifts works in summer thus no hiking tourism nor mountain biking is being developed. Secondly, only in Dobrinishte (the town next to Bansko - 10 km away) there are a total of 17 mineral springs with temperatureof 30-43°C with flow of 700 liters per second. This is sufficient enough for both Dobrinishte and Bansko to develop as modern all seasonSPA destinations. Last, but not least, nothing has been done to attract other but ski tourists or diversify the portfolio. It is also untrue that Bansko’s economy relies only on tourism.
Even if further development of the ski area is being permitted such would be heavily impeded due to limitations of the local mountain terrain. Suitable slopes from ski point of view are scarce in vicinity and remote, while their improvement shall require heavy construction equipment which to modify their landscape. Access to them shall require additional linking lifts and shall make their utilization inefficient and the ski zone disperse in patter and difficult to integrate into the existing infrastructure. Such a conclusion can be confirmed by many seasoned backcountry skiers who are acquainted with the local conditions. Consequently such an extension would lead to defragmentation of thePark and wildlife habitats and shall negatively affect the neighboring sanctuaries. Hence, the destruction of landscape and wildlife will be disproportional to the benefits for the ski industry. Please also note that any new construction of ski runs and lifts can only be implemented outside the already existing and rather controversial territorial spatialplan.
The current ski area of Bansko is already the largest in Bulgaria. Please be informed that only 2.5% of the territory of our country consists of mountain high grounds (terrains over1600m). This makes their value exceptional for our nature and environmental balance. That is also the reason why most of them are protected areas.
Do not be fooled by claims taht billions of Euro have been invested in Bansko, this is brazenly misleading.
Although there has been an inclusion of new territories within National Park Prirn ( that it to compensate for the ski area) the integrity and diversity of the protected area has been increased. Also, the ski facilities slice through the most magnificent and highly praised part of the mountain. Precisely there are concentrated most of hundred years old forests, which can hardly becompensated.
The “uncontrollable social tension”, which the local mayors foresee as direct result from the cancellation of further ski development, can only occur due to poor planning and false expectations. The harsh reality is that because of the construction of modern hotels the locals have lost their income from guest houses. The population of Bansko is also not qualified in order to work in the leisure industry and by so is left sidelines and jobless. From another prospective, the property boom lead to disproportional increase in the standard of living which local citizens are now struggling to sustain with the scarce incomes.
If you have vivisted Bansko, most likely you have experienced or have been informed of certain issues with the gondola lift capacity and the intention to construct a parallel one. Such a solution i sill-founded and can easily be refuted due to the following reasons:
There are huge concerns over the future development of ‘Cerna Mogila’ ski lift. The existing ski run there cannot be used in future because its profile does not comply with the statutory requirements and the modern standards. Thus a completely new route of both ski run and lift is mandatory which cannot be qualified as ‘upgrade’.
There is significant and profound difference between what the management of the ski area mean under the term “upgrade” and the actual reality. Generally, an upgrade of a ski lift would mean that the new one is equal in length and route with the old one. Furthermore, in protected areas such as Park “Pirin” both should use the same spots for construction of the fundaments of their respective liftpillars (towers). Should the course of the route of ski lift is altered by only 1% this will result in 10 meters deviation per kilometer length of a ski lift. This is how virtual their speculations are. Please also note that each new lift requires new cable trench underneath so it does not merely "fly" over the terrain but literally tears up the woods.
“How to move forward?”
The only feasible solution could be to put the Park in the danger list, so as to send a very strong and clear message to the Bulgarian government and society that these atrocities are unacceptable and undesirable for the international community. Please do not support or recognize Mr. Minev as speaker for the Bulgarian ski industry or sport. Any new development would legitimize what already has been omitted and shall serve as foothold for further “exceptions”. Tseko Minev and hif ski federation should no longer be tolerated. They only disregard and neglect the international acts to which Bulgaria is party and struggle to alter national laws in their own favour. The current standstill and controversy with the environmentalist is a direct consequence of the uncontrollable development of that ski area that took place and the law breaches committed by Mr. Minev. His lobby is strongly unwilling to go for any negociations and insists only on their own plans, without reviewing any other alternatives, this I say as a skier.
Media control
Through lavish advertisement and marketing spendings Tseko Minev ensures strictly positive attitude from the press and TV. Leading sporting journalist travel at the expense of the Bulgarian ski federation. Fibank is sponsoring many top Bulgarian athletes. There is another well documented outrageous act of media control: An evening talk show was terminated after it aired a short cartoon, speculating that Tseko Minev and his ski resort Bansko might have been involved in corruption. Although his involvement in the cancellation of the TV show was never proven it is a fact that on the next day all advertisement of FiBank in that particular station was suspended. The allegations of corruption also could not be proven. Yet what is certain is that two consecutive governments promulgate legislation in favor of Mr. Minev’s business interest. Also, no legal actions were taken against the Bansko ski area after the Ministry of environment issued a statement that one third of the ski runs were constructed in the National Park Pirin and are being currently used without any legal grounds. May be this is due to the fact that the current Bulgarian Prime Minister appears on a major TV interview wearing merchandising clothing with the FiBank logo on his chest.
Tseko Minev and Bansko
You can read more about Bansko and the illigal ski developments here
Mr. Minev and his FiBank are directly responsible for the destruction of the Pirin Mountain and the Pirin National Park. Here are the facts:
Bansko ski area has been rapidly and consistently expanding over the past decade in breach of national and international legislations. The neglect of the laws has been well documented and has also been confirmed by supreme courtsin Bulgaria. Most of the ski lifts, constructed in the ski area, have not obtained ‘use permits’ of any kind which are required by law before they go into operation. This breach has been confirmed by the municipality thorough their web site http://bansko.bg/content/view/2395/1/lang,en/.
Tzeko Minev and his supporters claim that should a halt is being put on further development of the ski area this will be a “catastrophe” for the local tourism. This statement is profoundly wrong and misleading. First of all, the ski season in Bulgaria and in Bansko in particular is insignificantly short and can hardly sustain the local population – a hundred days per year cannot generateyear-round income. None of the ski lifts works in summer thus no hiking tourism nor mountain biking is being developed. Secondly, only in Dobrinishte (the town next to Bansko - 10 km away) there are a total of 17 mineral springs with temperatureof 30-43°C with flow of 700 liters per second. This is sufficient enough for both Dobrinishte and Bansko to develop as modern all seasonSPA destinations. Last, but not least, nothing has been done to attract other but ski tourists or diversify the portfolio. It is also untrue that Bansko’s economy relies only on tourism.
Even if further development of the ski area is being permitted such would be heavily impeded due to limitations of the local mountain terrain. Suitable slopes from ski point of view are scarce in vicinity and remote, while their improvement shall require heavy construction equipment which to modify their landscape. Access to them shall require additional linking lifts and shall make their utilization inefficient and the ski zone disperse in patter and difficult to integrate into the existing infrastructure. Such a conclusion can be confirmed by many seasoned backcountry skiers who are acquainted with the local conditions. Consequently such an extension would lead to defragmentation of thePark and wildlife habitats and shall negatively affect the neighboring sanctuaries. Hence, the destruction of landscape and wildlife will be disproportional to the benefits for the ski industry. Please also note that any new construction of ski runs and lifts can only be implemented outside the already existing and rather controversial territorial spatialplan.
The current ski area of Bansko is already the largest in Bulgaria. Please be informed that only 2.5% of the territory of our country consists of mountain high grounds (terrains over1600m). This makes their value exceptional for our nature and environmental balance. That is also the reason why most of them are protected areas.
Do not be fooled by claims taht billions of Euro have been invested in Bansko, this is brazenly misleading.
Although there has been an inclusion of new territories within National Park Prirn ( that it to compensate for the ski area) the integrity and diversity of the protected area has been increased. Also, the ski facilities slice through the most magnificent and highly praised part of the mountain. Precisely there are concentrated most of hundred years old forests, which can hardly becompensated.
The “uncontrollable social tension”, which the local mayors foresee as direct result from the cancellation of further ski development, can only occur due to poor planning and false expectations. The harsh reality is that because of the construction of modern hotels the locals have lost their income from guest houses. The population of Bansko is also not qualified in order to work in the leisure industry and by so is left sidelines and jobless. From another prospective, the property boom lead to disproportional increase in the standard of living which local citizens are now struggling to sustain with the scarce incomes.
If you have vivisted Bansko, most likely you have experienced or have been informed of certain issues with the gondola lift capacity and the intention to construct a parallel one. Such a solution i sill-founded and can easily be refuted due to the following reasons:
- Currently, the cabin capacities of the gondola lift are not fully utilized with the lift operators failing to invite tourist to use full capacity;
- Long lines occur due to limited working hours of the lift as the doors open with crowds of people already waiting outside. Opening earlier is the answer. Such a simple solution could significantly increase the overall capacity and efficiency;
- Little was done by the management of the ski area to promote the lower ski runs, accessible by car or directly from the nearby hotels. The promised shuttles were not introduced and no incentives were put in place to overcome the deficiencies of tha tresort area;
- Long lines and extensive waiting at bottom gondola station occur in limited period of time: these are a few days in peak season, which constitutes less than 10% of the winter or no more than 9 days. Such delays are common worldwide and inherent to all valley ski resorts, where hotels are not right next to ski runs;
- The prospect of having two gondola lifts from the valley with none of them actually working beyond the ski season is absurd and unique even for Bulgaria;
- Even though that significant delays take place a few tourists will actually use motor vehicles to access the upper ski area. This is due to the reasons varying from the high price for parking directly in the ski area, to the fact that most of the tourists are foreign overseas visitors flown to Bulgaria who do not rentcar.
There are huge concerns over the future development of ‘Cerna Mogila’ ski lift. The existing ski run there cannot be used in future because its profile does not comply with the statutory requirements and the modern standards. Thus a completely new route of both ski run and lift is mandatory which cannot be qualified as ‘upgrade’.
There is significant and profound difference between what the management of the ski area mean under the term “upgrade” and the actual reality. Generally, an upgrade of a ski lift would mean that the new one is equal in length and route with the old one. Furthermore, in protected areas such as Park “Pirin” both should use the same spots for construction of the fundaments of their respective liftpillars (towers). Should the course of the route of ski lift is altered by only 1% this will result in 10 meters deviation per kilometer length of a ski lift. This is how virtual their speculations are. Please also note that each new lift requires new cable trench underneath so it does not merely "fly" over the terrain but literally tears up the woods.
“How to move forward?”
The only feasible solution could be to put the Park in the danger list, so as to send a very strong and clear message to the Bulgarian government and society that these atrocities are unacceptable and undesirable for the international community. Please do not support or recognize Mr. Minev as speaker for the Bulgarian ski industry or sport. Any new development would legitimize what already has been omitted and shall serve as foothold for further “exceptions”. Tseko Minev and hif ski federation should no longer be tolerated. They only disregard and neglect the international acts to which Bulgaria is party and struggle to alter national laws in their own favour. The current standstill and controversy with the environmentalist is a direct consequence of the uncontrollable development of that ski area that took place and the law breaches committed by Mr. Minev. His lobby is strongly unwilling to go for any negociations and insists only on their own plans, without reviewing any other alternatives, this I say as a skier.
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