/ world today news/ On September 6, when Bulgaria celebrated 132 years since the Unification, unknown people tried to burn down one of the many abandoned cultural monuments in Sofia.
Opened in 1933, the mineral bath in “Ovcha Kupel”, known for its beautiful architecture and healing water, has been in ruins for over two decades. And while year after year, the abandoned building continues to crumble, appetites for the property do not subside. This was shown by a study by a BGNES team. Apart from everything else, the bathroom in the “Sheep’s Bath” turns out to be a perfect opportunity for another example of inefficient spending of European funds – by pouring money into concrete, joinery and tiles, to give birth to another unnecessary museum in Sofia, this time disguised as a center for “higher scientific achievements”. This is only part of the answer to the question – what is behind the arson of the mineral bath in “Ovcha Kupel”?
The disputes between the Municipality of Sofia and the National Specialized Hospital for Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation over the appetizing properties – the mineral baths in “Ovcha Kupel” and “Gorna Banya” date back to the beginning of the new century. While legal disputes were being conducted in the period 2001-2008, the municipality issued title deeds and sublet some of the properties in “Gorna Banya”. No matter that in 2008, with a final decision of the Supreme Court of Cassation, it was decided that the mineral baths are part of the assets of the hospital, to date they have been taken away from it by the state.
In March 2014, the Council of Ministers adopted a decision agreeing to sell the properties of the hospital in “Gorna Banya” at an auction, with the initial auction price not being lower than the market value determined by an independent appraiser. The plans were that with the money from the sale of the bath in “Gorna Banya”, the mineral bath in “Ovcha Kupel” would be restored and used for the rehabilitation of patients, as well as by external visitors for prices many times lower than those in the five-star spa centers. But a sale was never reached, and soon after that the ministers of health were changed. This is a prerequisite for the Metropolitan Municipality to once again show interest in the appetizing properties.
In 2016, the Metropolitan Municipal Council made a decision – that the municipality should ask the state to transfer the assets of the non-functioning mineral baths to it, in order to apply for European funding under the “Science and Education for Intelligent Growth” Operational Program. For BGN 13 million, the mineral bath in “Gorna Banya” would become a museology center, and for BGN 30 million, again money from Europe, the bath in “Ovcha Kupel” should become a center for research on healing properties of the waters, ambitiously explained by the municipality.
Ten days before the application deadline, the Municipality of Sofia succeeded in making the necessary decision of the Council of Ministers. At one of its last meetings on January 13, 2017, the “Borisov” 2 government canceled decision No. 133/2014 of the Council of Ministers and at the same time provided the two mineral baths to the Metropolitan Municipality. This provides an opportunity for the municipality to apply for the “Construction and Development of Competence Centers” and “Construction and Development of Centers of Excellence” procedures, which close on January 23, 2017. Notwithstanding that the Managing Authority of the Operational Program extends the deadline for application until February 28, 2017, it never came to that, because in the meantime, because of the serious violations discovered during its implementation, it was frozen at the request of the European Commission. The program remains frozen to this day.
In the mandate of the official office “Gerdzhikov” at the insistence of the National Specialized Hospital for Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, the Ministry of Health is preparing a draft decision to restore the ownership of the medical facility over the baths in “Gorna Banya” and “Ovcha Kupel”, but until its adoption not enough. After last week’s arson, the management of the hospital asked the MC to review Decision No. 30/2017 and adopt a new one, which would allow the money from the sale of one property – the one in “Gorna Banya”, the bathroom in “Ovcha Kupel” ” to be restored and used for its purpose – for the treatment and recovery of patients and for the use of the healing properties of the mineral spring by visitors. The request of the hospital’s management is more than logical, because the previous practice of the Metropolitan Municipality of using European funding for the construction of museums has turned out to be less than successful. Moreover, the Metropolitan Municipality seems to have given up its ambitions to do science in the natural mineral springs in “Gorna Banya” and “Ovcha Kupel”, but retains its appetite to dispose of the appetizing properties.
At the beginning of July 2017, the chief architect of Sofia presented a report at a meeting of the Sofia Municipal Council, with which he proposed the restoration of the mineral baths in the capital. Among those proposed for restoration are the mineral baths in “Ovcha Kupel” and “Gorna Banya”, which, in addition to indicating a change in the municipality’s plans, represents a violation of the government decision of January 13, 2017. Then the government “Borisov 2” provided the “Ovcha” baths “Kupel” and “Gorna Banya” of the Metropolitan Municipality solely to apply for European projects under OPNOIR, and if this activity is not carried out, the municipality is obliged to return the properties to its owner – the National Specialized Hospital for Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation.
The ambitions of the Metropolitan Municipality to dispose of the mineral baths look more than worrying, judging by the care that mayors and municipal councilors have shown regarding the largest beach in Sofia – the “Maria Luiza” bathhouse in Borisova Gardena, which after having been gifted to the erstwhile force group “VIS”, it has not been functioning for several years.
The intentions of the municipality to develop balneology and SPA also seem doubtful because of the fate of the largest mineral bath in Sofia – the Central one. Since 2014, part of the beautiful building of the Central Bath has been a museum of the capital, which, despite its perfect location, does not enjoy serious visitor interest. Another museum in the center of Sofia became possible after the municipality poured BGN 6 million from the Operational Program “Regional Development”, and before that many millions more under the “Beautiful Bulgaria” project. In order to reach the proposal of the chief architect of Sofia from July of this year, with which part of the Central Bath should have become a spa center.
If anyone expects that the Metropolitan Municipality intends to form a special company to manage the mineral baths, if and when they are restored, they will be disappointed. Rather, the leadership of the Metropolitan Municipality and the municipal councilors have the intention of showing themselves as good brokers of attractive properties. And in real estate transactions, as is well known, there is always a percentage for the broker. Moreover, the precedent is already there.
In the middle of the summer, almost incognito, a pension insurance fund announced that it had received the right to build a hotel next to the mineral bath in “Bankya”, restoring the bath itself, which is also in a deplorable state. The fund was the only candidate in the procedure announced by the municipality. For almost BGN 10 million, the same as the initial price, the pension insurance company gets the right to use the hotel and the mineral bath for 35 years. So that within two or three years, the people of Sofia will be able to enjoy a modern spa complex and hotel in Bankya. In fact, those who can afford to visit a five-star resort.
If the upper echelons of power – in the Metropolitan Municipality, in the Ministry of Health and in the Council of Ministers – want to respond to the public interest, and not to the corporate one, then the most logical thing that can be done, after selected citizens of the capital will have a luxury spa -tourist complex in Bankya, and why not in “Gorna Banya”, at least the bath in “Ovcha Kupel” should remain for the patients and for those Sofia residents who, for an affordable fee, will be able to benefit from the right of access to the natural wealth of the country of which they are also citizens.
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