[size=75:mjzsphhc]Sofia echo 16 March 2010

More than 400 establishments in Sunny Beach operate illegally

More than 400 establishments in Bulgaria's number one sea resort, Sunny Beach, are reportedly below standard, lack adequate facilities and are allowed to operate illegally anyway, Bulgarian private television channel bTV reported on March 16 2010.

Hoteliers have resumed another round of hostilities against these illegal establishments ahead of the summer season, the report says. They claim that many proprietors have been operating illegally.

"
It is ludicrous that, on one hand, you have restaurants closed because a sink is malfunctioning and they are not adhering to quality standards. But then, you have establishments that have no sinks whatsoever, that do not even have a construction permit, but are allowed to operate,"
Vesselin Nalbantov, from the Union of Owners in Sunny Beach, was quoted as saying by bNT.

"
I reckon there are about 450 such establishments here,"
he added.

Most of the aforementioned "
establishments"
have been erected with temporary construction permits, but have since been expanded. The regional construction agency said, however, that they are impotent in such cases because they can only demolish "
permanent buildings"
whereas the responsibility for "
temporary sheds"
resides with Nessebar municipality.

According to legislation, construction along the coast is being frozen during the summer – that is, no resolution is found until next year when the problem simply continues for another year when the summer season begins again.

"
We had such establishments, some of which had to be razed, but then the proprietors appealed against the decision, and cases were postponed, and then the summer started,"
Nikolai Dimitrov, Nessebar mayor, was quoted as saying by the bNT.

"
Lower class tourists are now arriving because the resort has been transformed into a swindler market,"
Nalbantov said.

A commission is set to investigate all establishments along the coast by the end of March and is entrusted with deciding which will be razed before the beginning of the season.