Sofia Municipality to Initiate Meetings with State Institutions Over Vitocha Nature Park Cleanup
Sofia Municipality has announced plans to initiate meetings with various state institutions to discuss the cleanup of the pathway infrastructure leading to Vitocha Nature Park. This news was shared by Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev via his personal Facebook profile, as reported by BTA.
Terziev mentioned that changes had been implemented two days prior in the manner of cleaning the roads leading to Vitocha, with visible results already apparent. He pointed out, however, that the municipality had had to take on some of the responsibilities typically assigned to the state due to a lack of engagement from their part.
Emphasizing that Vitocha Nature Park and its forests are under state management, Terziev clarified that the municipality only has jurisdiction over the forest fund in the territory of the villages of Železnitsa and Bistrica. Despite this, he asserted that the municipality has the right and responsibility to clean the roads used by public transportation and some access points to the Everett.
"Ensuring the safety and removal of hazardous trees is primarily the responsibility of the Sofia State Forestry Enterprise, in coordination with several other state bodies," Terziev stated. Due to the lack of action from these institutions, he revealed that crews from the Sofia Municipality had had to step in to remove potentially dangerous trees to ensure public safety.
Terziev also shared that during the opening of the ski season at Vitocha, access roads had been blocked for hours due to heavy snowfall and insufficient equipment from the cleaning company. He noted that he had ordered a review of the current operating methods and had increased the requirements for the company responsible for winter cleaning, including the provision of appropriate equipment for mountainous winter conditions and more frequent sand treatments.
Effective January 1st, 2023, the access roads to Vitocha Nature Park will be closed to vehicles from 11 PM to 6 AM, allowing the cleaning contractors to perform a comprehensive cleanup. The mayor also highlighted the creation of a close coordination process between Sofia Municipality’s police forces, the Emergency Assistance and Prevention Center (EAPC), the Sofia Metropolitan Transportation Center, ski schools, and chalets.
"The slope will be open and accessible regardless of the absence of lifts, relying on everyone’s conscious participation," Terziev emphasized. He appealed to visitors of the mountain to be prepared with winter-ready vehicles, adjustable to winter conditions, and to follow the instructions of Sofia Municipality’s police forces and park responsibly to avoid congestion that could hinder transportation and cleanup operations.
Terziev also acknowledged that while they continue to improve current access, they are simultaneously developing an overall vision for the park’s accessibility, which will be shared at the beginning of next year. He expressed his hope that full access to Vitocha Nature Park could be achieved by 2025, with the cooperation of all institutions involved.
In late December 2022, Sofia Municipality announced the temporary closure of the roads leading to Vitocha Nature Park’s ‘Dragonesti’ and ‘Boyana – Zlatni Mostove’ regions from 3 AM to 7 AM for major cleaning operations. They urged vehicle owners to remove their vehicles from theleted areas to facilitate the cleanup. The roads reopened the following day, and the cleanup contractor was not paid due to unsatisfactory performance on December 26th.
