Golden Pearl Complex on Black Sea Coast to be bull-dozed

After protracted talks and court cases, the Bulgarian government has decided that the tourist holiday village Zlatna Perla (Golden Pearl) will be town down and bull dozed.

Although the large complex was never actually completed, most of the units were sold off-plan to foreigners, with at least 90 British and Irish investors being caught up in the scandal. In fact the RightMoveAbroad are still advertising the complex as a fantastic new development that is all sold out – to foreign investors that have now lost all the money they put into the development. Previously the people who had bought into the development said they would take court action against the Bulgarian State to recover their lost investments.

The Zlatna Perla complex was constructed in the Stanja National park, a protected area, and after various investigations the Inspectorate of the National Construction Control (INCC) decided that the construction was illegal. The decision cannot be appealed against but there is currently no date as to when any demolition will begin.

Back in 2007, a Supreme Administrative Court order, together with the approval of the local municipality, waived the national park’s protected status. And thus projects that had previously been stopped could go ahead. This decision led to massive public protests in support of protecting Bulgaria’s national parks and as a result the Bulgarian Government passed legislation that areas the Government dedicated as specially protected could not be over-ruled. However, despite this, in 2008 The Supreme Expert Environmental Council approved the development plan for Zlatna Perla and construction began, albeit with mild restrictions on the height and density of construction.

Now, almost 2 years later, it has finally been held that construction of the Holiday complex was illegal and the buildings should be torn down and the land restored to its natural state. However, where this leaves the poor investors who knows.