The Future of Vitosha

information by Capital Weekly, Asya Koleva

The entire lift net on Vitosha will be reconstructed by a company, closely related to Ulen, which maintains the ski zone in Bansko.

One lift card will be used for all of the lifts on Vitosha. For the first time tourists and skiers will be able to use the lifts with one card, after the entire lift net is now managed by one owner – “Vitosha Ski” JSC.

What will happen?

The start of the new project was marked on 16 March this year when the specialists in the construction of ski zones Mr. Kurt Hoch, Rihard Schoenherr and Tseko Minev viewed the mountain from a helicopter. The project will change and modernize the infrastructure in the mountain. “Vitosha Ski” plans to invest between 50 – 80 million Euro in the project. They plan to renovate the ski slopes and restaurants in the mountain.

The project will be executed on two stages. The first one will embrace “Aleko ski zone”. All of the ski lifts will be substituted by new ones and their location will be optimized.

Kurt Hoch thinks that the route of the “Romanski” lift is totally wrong, as part of it passes through a windy zone and is closed during most of the time. New slopes are not planned to be constructed. Only the routes of the existing slopes will be optimized, so that their capacity will be increased to 10 000 – 12 000.

New luxurious cabin lift will substitute the now existing romantic double chairlift. A brand new gondola will be installed on Simeonovo.

The second stage of the project plans the reconstruction of the Kniajevo lift and its extension to Cherni vrah peak through the stations Knyajevo, Kopitoto, Vetrovala and Konyarnika. When the project is completed tourists will be able to take the lift from the western suburbs of Sofia and reach Mladost residential district.

The investor company announced that the funds for the planned investments are already available, but the deadline for the execution of the project depends on the governmental institutions. At the moment the plan for the execution of the first stage is being prepared. Canadian and Austrian companies will consult the project. The project also has to be coordinated with the Ministry of the Environment and the National Forest Agency. If all of the institutions approve the project by the end of 2008, the construction works will start by 2009 and the first stage will be completed within two or three years.