Citizens protested outside the Sofia Municipality building Monday against real-estate development threatening the Boyana Marsh in the Boyana suburb of Sofia. The protest was organized by the Boyana Marsh Protection Association. Protesters carried placards reading “I want to live in a green country, not an overbuilt one! Don’t ruin the country!” and “Life, not concrete!”
The Boyana Marsh is the only remaining wetland area in the territory of the capital city. Until 2023, the marsh figured as land for building development and not as a water body in Sofia’s Masterplan. The whole 1 ha marsh is private property and the owners have plans to develop the area – which is what local people and environmentalists have been trying to stop for years.
Veselin Tonchev, one of the association’s founders, told BTA that their demands have remained unchanged since 2021: a change in the area’s zoning plans and a construction ban. While the procedure for amending the zoning plans is ongoing, construction can continue in the absence of a construction ban.
Tonchev explained that the Boyana Marsh must be preserved as both an ecosystem containing protected plant and animal species – especially birds – and a body of water that retains mountain runoff, thereby protecting the properties located north of it from flooding.
On Monday, the protesters entered Hall 1 of the Sofia Municipality building, where the Commission on Spatial Planning, Architecture and Housing Policy was holding an ad hoc meeting with the chief architect of Sofia Municipality, the architect of the Vitosha Borough and the borough mayor.
On October 18, Ombudsman Velislava Delcheva referred the matter to Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev, Sofia Municipality Chief Architect Bogdana Panayotova, and the Chair of the Standing Committee on Spatial Planning, Sevdelina Petrova. She urged them to take immediate action to prevent construction in the Boyana Marsh area and save its ecosystem.
The Boyana Marsh has been the subject of numerous scientific studies over the past 30 years, with a report by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences noting that the marsh is home to over 100 bird species, 17 of which are endangered.
The dispute over the Marsh began in April 2022, when private landowners and construction company GP Group JSC sent excavators to fill in around 30% of the marsh’s territory. On May 9, the Boyana Marsh Protection Association organized the first civil protest on the flooded part of the marsh. Hundreds of local residents and Sofia citizens signed a request to stop the illegal activities until an investigation into how the marsh ended up in private hands had been carried out.
Construction resumed in June 2023. Local residents arrived on site and stood in front of the bulldozers, which by that point had dug channels to drain the marsh into the local sewer system. In August 2023, the Environment and Water Ministry’s Danube Region Basin Directorate issued an order recognizing the marsh as a water body. Property owners within the boundaries of the marsh appealed against the order in court.
In June 2024, the Boyana Marsh was designated an area of high conservation value and included in Sofia Municipality’s management programme for the 2023–2027 term.
According to a research paper by Sofiaplan, ensuring the long-term existence of the marsh and keeping its ecological functions requires its designation as a protected area (as defined by the Protected Areas Act), which would include both the marsh itself and the adjoining undeveloped shore within a buffer of at least 100 metres. Any other measures, such as converting the area into an urban park or permitting partial building development, can only slow down the ecosystem’s degradation but would be pointless in the long term. Sofianites Protest Real Estate Projects Threatening Sofia’s Boyana Marsh THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2025-10-20 15:06:10 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
