Политика

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Lydia Shuleva responded to the invitation for a working meeting "Velingrad - European resort and tourist center", which was held on March 28 in the hall of "Maritza East". The MPs from NDSV Milena Milotinova and Valentin Miltenov, the regional governor Ivan Dimitrov and his deputy Ivan Avramov also arrived for the forum. The whole leadership of the municipality - Mayor Fidel Beev and his team, all municipal councilors, heads of municipal companies, community centers, businessmen, NGOs, etc.
Leading the meeting was the chairman of the Municipal Council Nejat Kehayov, who set as a goal to discover mechanisms and reserves for the development of the city and the municipality. Brief characteristics of the municipality, the latest data from the UN Development Programme report, the strengths and weaknesses of Velingrad were presented in a synthesized form by CBI Governor Vaska Milusheva. Deputy Mayor Milian Arsov identified the main problems: to improve communication between local and other authorities; lack of continuity because of objective and subjective factors; lack of rich experience in the municipality for implementation of projects under the European programs.
Many of the participants in the workshop spoke, a large number of questions and problems were posed, there were also lulls in retail. Atanas Vodev emphasized on the good practice between the municipality and the Bureau of Labor, thanks to which the project "From Social Assistance to Employment" last year worked over 1,300 people and which will continue with providing employment to 1,700 unemployed. Dr. Tsvetan Dafov posed as a problem the lack of qualified and well-trained workforce, which creates great difficulties for hotels and restaurants. Three chairmen of the Chitalishtes G. Vasilev, N. Deliev and D. Mechev were unanimous that tourism without culture cannot be done and therefore cultural institutions should be supported. Dr. Yordanka Savova drew attention to the needs of the hospital and especially to the expansion of its facilities. The Chairman of the Association of Potato Growers, Atanas Birnikov, stressed that there will be no resort until the area around Velingrad is better. Arable land is being destroyed, there will be no agriculture without arable land, there is a lack of coordination between the departments in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Birnikov said. The manager of "Sports Properties and Beaches" Nikola Todev presented 3 projects for sports sites and criticized the imperfect water law, on the basis of which permits for the use of mineral waters are issued. The Regional Governor Ivan Dimitrov undertook to assist if the municipalities along the railway line Septemvri - Dobrinishte decided to establish an association for turning the narrow-gauge into an attraction. The focus of the meeting was the statement of Ms. Shuleva. As a major problem of Velingrad, she pointed out the state of education. I am shocked by the data from the UN Development Programme report that 54% of the population of the municipality has an education lower than basic, Lydia Shuleva frankly stated. With such a high percentage of uneducated and uneducated people, there is no reason to wonder that there is high unemployment, so not in the XXI, and the XIX century we cannot have development. Ms. Shuleva recommended that all other projects of the municipality should go to the second level and take immediate measures for training and qualification of the workforce. She criticised local technicums for offering prestigious professions such as "Manager in Tourism" and for forgetting the specific needs of the industry of maids and service staff. Even in Lausanne there is a school for maids, and Bulgarian education gives a lot of knowledge and little practical skills. The Ration of the Problem According to L. Shuleva is in qualification courses and a training center that gives qualification and retraining for the needs of tourism. Here the efforts together with the business should be united, and the state has created mechanisms to help.
For years, problems with geothermal sources have been solved piecemeal, the minister agreed. But he stressed that the problem is not the ownership of the mineral waters (in Velingrad they are state-owned), but the lack of a clear concept on the part of the municipality for their use. Mayor F. Beev announced his intention to ask for the ownership of the mineral waters to be transferred to the municipality, and Ms. Shuleva asked him if then the municipality would allow free use and again recommended making a concept for using the sources.
Lydia Shuleva announced the expected good news: the government will allocate funds for three sites in Velingrad under the project "Beautiful Bulgaria". Initially, only the project for the Home for Old People was approved, there was also an attitude to support municipalities in which the program has not worked so far. After Mrs. Shuleva's personal intervention, the renovations of the community centers in Ludzhene and Kamenitsa were also approved. The state will commit to allocate 150 thousand levs under the three projects, its financial commitment must also fulfill the municipality. In the ensuing press conference, Mayor F. Beev said funds from privatization will be sought, site prices will be reviewed because nothing else can be done. Ms. Shuleva reminded that there are deadlines for the project and they must be observed, and that the municipality has great opportunities such as concessions that bring revenue. She recommended a special working meeting for the resource provision of the projects.
On the big topic of tourism, Lydia Shuleva announced that Velingrad has not yet found its exact identification as a resort. Major tour operators know certain tourist products and therefore the product we offer should be clear - balneology, skiing, ecotourism, cultural tourism or something else. The variety of tourism products in Velingrad should be clearly oriented towards specific consumers, not at all. The municipality must be present at all tourist exchanges and have a clear plan how it will collect resort fees and how it will invest them in tourist infrastructure and advertising. Advance Ms. Shuleva presented the possibilities of the new PHARE project for ecotourism, under which our country will receive 4.9 million euros from the EU free of charge. During the press conference, Lydia Shuleva put another emphasis: the local resource showed that it was unable to cope with the development of Velingrad, so large national and international investors should be attracted. The municipality is obliged to do everything to make the investors feel welcoming and welcome. My deep conviction is that only attracting investors will help the development of the city, said our illustrious co-citizen. He did not save that the competition for investors is very large and pointed out how certain municipalities benefit from the fact that they have zero profit tax, and Velingrad does not. Velingrad has huge potential, but the activity and climate to attract investors are not good, she summarized. This climate has significantly improved, Mayor Beev noted.
The meeting ended with more good news. In all likelihood, he will receive approval for the project with which SOU "St. Cyril and Methodius” applied to the Social Investment Fund and will completely replace the windows of the school building. Milena Milotinova announced that the SIF project of the new management of Rakitovo Municipality for ennoblement of the city center will also be approved. This week the Ministry of Economy will make a donation of computers for the community center "Otets Paisiy" and its library and for the Children's Complex.
Elena Baeva