The coastal resort of Sozopol will hold on April 6 its own referendum on Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project, investor.bg reported on April 3.
Bourgas municipality tested the public opinion on the construction of the trans-Balkan pipeline on February 17. It failed with turnout at only 27 per cent of eligible voters, needing at least 50 per cent of eligible voters to be considered valid.
The Sozopol municipality decided to hold its own referendum earlier this week. The question has been formulated as follows: “Do you wish Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline to be built?” The explanatory campaign on the project ends April 5.
The trans-Balkan oil pipeline, a joint effort by Bulgaria, Greece and Russia, is expected to start this year and to be completed by 2011. The pipeline will carry Caspian oil via the Black Sea through to the port of Bourgas and thereof to the port of Alexandroupolis. Its design capacity is intended between 35 and 50 million tonnes of crude a year.
But both in Bulgaria and Greece it has met with staunch opposition from local authorities, who fear that the pipeline will have a negative impact on their lucrative tourist sector.
