Transcript Slide 1

BULGARIAN PERSPECTIVE
Arch. Belin Mollov, Advisor to the Minister of RDPW
European Danube Strategy expert conference, Budapest – 18 March 2010
Danube River is an important factor for the economic,
urban, cultural and historical development of Bulgaria
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Vidin
Lom
Kozloduy
Oryahovo
Nikopol
Belene
Svishtov
Ruse
Tutrakan
Silistra
 470 km of the longest river in the EU is acting as a frontier of
Bulgaria and Romania rather than as a factor for effective
integration in the European space and for national and regional
development based on Danube’ huge potentials for intensification
of agriculture through irrigation, development of industries linked to
cheap water-borne transport, navigation, river-port activities,
seasonal recreation, and cultural tourism.
Bulgarian Danube Region
Direct influence:
 2 NUTS 2 regions: North West and North Central regions with the population of 1,
840,330 people or 24% of the total
 8 NUTS 3 regions (districts): Vidin, Montana, Vratza, Pleven, Veliko Turnovo, Ruse,
Razgrad, Silistra with the population of 1,554 ,940 or 20%
 22 NUTS4/ LAU1 regions (municipalities) with the population of 570,450 or 7.5%
Number of population – NUTS 4
Silistra
 Vidin
Ruse 
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Pleven
Natural Resources & Biodiversity
 Landscape: mostly plain and hilly
 The region is relatively poor in terms of ores and minerals and
energy resources, as well as of forest resources because of its
being situated in the so-called Danubean Plain of Bulgaria. Its main
riches are the land resources.
 Farmland: 2,026,522 hectares or 73% of the total area, of which
arable land forms 1,704,893 ha.
 Forests: 501,906 hectares i.e. 18% of the total area.
Protected &
areas:
Natural Resources
Biodiversity
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3 nature reserves - strictly protected area, no
human activity allowed ( 3651,1 ha),
1 natural monument - protection of natural
features, activity allowed (598,7ha),
1 managed reserve - activities for
conservation purpose allowed (902,1ha),
3 nature parks - active interaction of humans
and nature in sustainable way (55300,1ha),
4 protected sites- habitat protection and
sustainable use of natural products
(8207,4ha).
There are 16 existing Special Protection
Areas with the total area 454,839 ha.
The protected areas on Ramsar convention
i.e. NP Persina, NR Milka, NR Kitka present
total area of 21817,6 ha.
There are also two biosphere reserves of the
UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme
namely Nature reserve Chuprene, Managed
nature reserve Srebarna with the total area of
2341,3 ha.
Transport Infrastructure
The Bulgarian zone of the Danube Region is
traversed by 3 of the total of 5 Pan-European
Transport Corridors running through the BG
territory :
 Corridor no. 4: conducts the international flows
between Romania, Bulgaria and Greece via the
Bulgarian section Vidin-Sofia-Kulata in the
western part of the region, thus ensuring
connection between the River Danube and the
Aegean Sea. The new bridge is under
construction.
 Corridor no. 9: conveys the international flows
between Romania and Bulgaria via the Bulgarian
section Russe-Veliko Turnovo-Stara ZagoraHaskovo-Kardzhali-Podkova-Makaza. Pass in the
central part of the region. At the frontier with
Romania the Corridor No. 9 operates through the
Russe Border-crossing point via the only bridge
across the River Danube in Bulgaria.
 Corridor no. 7: (the River Danube) In view of the
sole existing bridge over the River Danube (city
of Rousse), the Corridor No. 7 appears to be not
a an opportunity for transborder communications
in the region.
Pan-European Transport Corridors running
through the BG territory
 Vidin
Ruse 
 Varna
 Sofia
 Burgas
Transport Infrastructure
Ports
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The River Danube is the only navigable river in Bulgaria and the development of the
river transport is based solely on it.
 Port of Russe
 Port of Lom
 Port of Svishtov
 Port of Vidin
 Ports of Oryahovo, Somovit, Tutrakan and Silistra service mainly the local trade.
The infrastructure of the ports is well developed, however its capacity is not
efficiently loaded, especially in recent years. The transport activities are
concentrated mainly in the three major ports – Russe, Lom and Svishtov . No
increase of the traffic in the Bulgarian ports has been observed after the
commissioning of the Rhein-Main-Danube canal.
Economic Structure of the Region
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the share of the Gross Added Value in the agrarian sector is very high (18.6
% for the entire region )
the industrial sector generated 27.3% of the Added Value of the entire
region.
the services sector demonstrates the most dynamic development in both
the entire region and in the individual districts, generating 54% of the
regional Added Value.
Universities and collegies
Innovations
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The existing R&D potential is limited, which does not contribute
to development of the innovation capacity of the region. The
number of operating entities in the R&D field is very small and
concentrated mainly in the district centres.
The localization of the higher educational establishments is
illustrated on the map below. Their number is the biggest in
Vratsa (5), Pleven, Ruse and Silistra (3 each) and Vidin and
Svishtov (2 each).
A trend of building partnerships between the higher
educational establishments and the R&D institutes depending
on the real market demand has been observed, however on a
limited scale, accompanied by a lack of commercialization of
the research
Urban structure by population
and administrative structure
The region comprises 1157 settlements, including 71 cities and 1086 villages.
The urban system is characterized by an evenly spacing of small and medium
size towns and uneven distribution of the big cities;
Spatial Organisation
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There are three main types of territories in the basic territorial-urbanization
structure of Bulgaria:
Strongly urbanized territories in the vicinity of the big cities (Russe and
Pleven) ; characterized by developed industrial and service functions,
communications and high population density.
strongly urbanized territories of the medium-size cities (Veliko Tarnovo,
Vratsa, Vidin, Montana, Silistra, Razgrad and Svishtov) also act as corecentres of organization of the territory, economic growth and development
drives where the economic and socio-cultural activity of the region is
concentrated. According to statistical data the agglomeration areas in the
last years have undergone generally positive economic changes. These
regions are characterized by low unemployment rates and above average
income and consumer demand levels.
Under-urbanized peripheral territories with low population density and
dispersed point location of villages and small cities, mainly with
agricultural orientation, at a great distance from the big cities.
Nature areas without human settlements. These territories are spared any
substantial human intervention, rich in beautiful nature and outstanding for
their rich biodiversity and balance of nature.
Agglomeration areas and
development access
Cultural heritage
BG-RO CBC Program 2007-2013
The total population is
5,104,508 inhabitants, of which
3,262,807 (64%) are located in Romania,
and 1,841,701 (36%) in Bulgaria.
Priority Axis 1: Accessibility - Improved mobility and access to transport,
information and communication infrastructure in the cross-border area
Priority axis 2: Environment - Sustainable use and protection of natural resources
and environment and promotion of efficient risk management in the area
Priority axis 3: Economic and Social Development - Economic development and
social cohesion by joint identification and enhancement of the area’s comparative
advantages
ORGANIZATION OF THE WORK
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Minister of Regional Development and Public Works is The National
coordinator;
An inter-institutional working group was created by the order of the
Minister of RDPW in November 2009;
Members of the WG are representatives of Bulgarian governmental bodies
at national, regional and local level as well as social partners, national and
regional associations of municipalities, civil organizations and some other
stakeholders;
Preliminary contributions from all members of the WG were collected in the
Secretariat in the MRDPW
Special events (Community forums, public hearings and discussions were
organized:
 in Vidin on 7 of January 2010 – all members of the Association of Danube
Municipalities approved their common position;
 in Ruse University on 21 of December 2009 – Public hearing and discussion;
 in Belene, Svishtov and Silistra – Community forums;
 in Sofia – Meeting Minister of RDPW and Members of BG and EU Parliament;
 in Vidin, Lom, Svishtov, Silistra – “Road show” – March 22-25;
 in Vidin – Meeting Minister of RDPW and Board of the NAMRB – march 29
 in Sofia – April – Big media event in NPC
FIRST DRAFT OF BULGARIAN “NON
PAPER” DOCUMENT
 The first draft of Bulgarian “non paper” document regarding
priorities, policies and actions related to the EU Strategy for the
Danube Region is a compilation of preliminary contributions by
Bulgarian governmental bodies at national, regional and local level
as well as social partners and some other stakeholders, members of
the WG;
 Analysis and evaluation of national, regional and local planning
documents were organised:
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National strategy for Regional development;
2 Regional development plans;
10 District strategies
All municipal development plans of the Members of Association of
Danube Municipalities
 Analysis of the implementations of Operational programs –
Regional development, Transport, Environment, CBC program BGRO, Program for SEE, PHARE, ISPA and others…