On 7.12.2022, the Mayor of Burgas Dimitar Nikolov held a meeting with representatives of EVN management - Alexander Sipek, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Kalina Trifonova, Deputy Chairman. In their conversation they reported the work done so far on the LIFE Safe Grid for Burgas project, which is implemented by Elektrozpredelenie Yug (part of EVN Bulgaria group) in partnership with BSPB (Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds) and funded under the LIFE programme of the European Union.
The project cost is EUR 5.5 million and plans laying of over 50 km of power lines underground. The project is implemented in the wetlands around Burgas, namely Atanasovsko Lake, Burgas Lake (Vaya), Mandra-Poda Complex and Pomorie Lake. Its main objective is to protect birds in the wetlands around Burgas by removing overhead lines and laying them underground.
During the meeting, it became clear that delays are being reported in some of the activities related to approval procedures and authorization regimes. Given that their timely issuance is essential to meet the deadlines set in the project plan approved by the European Commission, EVN and Burgas Municipality will jointly seek assistance from the relevant institutions and agencies to overcome the problems and the successful implementation of the project.
“This is in the interest of the neighbourhoods Cherno More, Rudnik, Banevo, Vetren, Sarafovo and other settlements in our municipality because the implementation of the project will limit the number of outages causing disturbances in electricity supply. Equally important for us is the environmental part. For years we have been promoting Burgas as a city of birds and one of the most important stops on their migration route. So, we would like fewer and fewer of them to die from electrocution or collision with overhead power lines”, said the Mayor Dimitar Nikolov.
The meeting with EVN was also attended by Deputy Mayor Chanka Koralska.
