Тhe General Landuse Plan of Tsarevo Based on Outdated Cadastre, Violating the Law

The Anti-Corruption Fund Foundation (ACF) has alerted the Ministry of Environment and Water (MEW), the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW), and the Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Agency (GCCA) regarding violations committed in the process of drafting the general land development plan for Tsarevo Municipality on the Black Sea coast.

ACF’s investigation revealed that the land development plan, which envisages the urbanization of Coral Beach, has been drafted in accordance with a map that fails to correctly reflect the borders of a number of protected coastal sand dunes.
According to the Cadastre and Land Register Act, the GCCA has an obligation to update the cadastral maps and register regularly.

Тhe Black Sea Coast Development Act stipulates that the Ministry of Environment and Water must regularly provide AGCC with information regarding the existence of sand dunes, which must then be included in all cadastral maps, specialized maps and registers within a six-month period. The act also details the procedure for creating maps and a register for public property sites, which sand dunes are, as well as the necessary specialized maps, register, and information system. The rules and procedure for the commissioning, drafting, and maintenance of the specialized maps, register, and information system are determined with an ordinance of the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works.

ACF reviewed the information, published on the GCCA website, and found out that specialized maps of the sand dunes near Coral Beach were available in PDF format. However, the data from the specialized maps has not been accurately transferred to the cadastral map, generated by the GCCA information system, which guides the drafting of the Tsarevo Municipality land development plan.

ACF considers the above situation to be a violation of the obligation to regularly update the cadastral map.
It is important to have matching information in specialized maps and map, generated by the cadastral information system. Not only is the information of official nature, but also the specialized maps contain data, absolutely necessary for the drafting of site development plans.

ACF urges the authorities to perform an inspection and take appropriate measures to remedy the committed violations. The problem is significant because the draft of the future land development plan envisages urbanization of the territory of Coral Beach with future development taking place on the territory of the protected sand dunes reflected on the specialized maps. The future plan is thus in violation of Art. 17a of the Black Sea Coast Development Act.

ACF received disappointing responses from the alerted institutions. The GCCA stated that the cadastral maps and register could only be amended following a request from the Minister of Tourism to this effect, and that such a request had not been made. With regards to MEW, they said that the Minister of Environment and Water was not responsible for the management of public property territories, such as the sand dunes in question. Therefore, the minister was not competent or obligated to take any measures to accurately reflect the sites in the cadastral map and registers.