Developers Gone Wild: Bansko Ski Ghetto Illustrates Bulgaria's Political Challenge

There is perhaps no better example of the source of Bulgarians' exasperation with their government than Bansko, a once sleepy village below a potential world-class ski venue. The slope is world-class; the village is not.

Holiday-makers find their accommodations surrounded by a ghetto of thousands of empty, incomplete or derelict condominiums and hotel rooms. The vista is reminiscent of New York's South Bronx at its worst in the 1970s. Here the view from the guest room of what Bulgaria rates as a five-star hotel:

That this ski area, one of the country's limited marketable resources, fell victim to developers gone wild should be surprising because Bulgarians are highly sensitive to how the world views them. Visitors are often asked if they think Bulgaria is a third-world country. (It is not; freed Soviet satellites were dubbed "second-world" to mark the gap between their long-fettered economies and societies and the West.) 

Yet over-building in Bansko, both before and after the global economic decline in 2008, was facilitated by government at every level, without regard to diminishing the national patrimony that is so dear to Bulgarians. Hundreds of chock-a-block structures were started without regulating design or quality or setbacks, or requiring that builders post bonds to assure that streets are widened, utilities extended, and projects completed. Most were never finished. Brits and other foreigners who were sold unfinished or non-existent real-estate are still seeking relief. Meanwhile, brokers in Bansko continue to offer the same wares.

In the unlikely event these hundreds of projects were ever completed and occupied, Bansko would literally come to a halt without adequate utilities or local streets or highway access from Sofia, the capital and nearest airport three hours away. Even today, occasionally electricity is interrupted and water pipes run dry, which the water company blames on the hotels and the hotels blame on the water company.

Announcement this week that Sofia had just endorsed further commercial development in the national park around Bansko was driven from the nation's attention by news of the fall of the government. The approval was for smaller areas than developers had demanded, but in Bulgaria where every diktat seems negotiable the saga will continue.

Voters assume somebody benefited from this bubble, but are certain it was not the nation. That cynicism captures the popular view that Bulgarian life would improve materially if only government was honest, oligarchs were restrained, and the mafia jailed.

However, the big question is whether-- even if all corruption is eliminated-- this small country on the far edge of Eastern Europe will have the wherewithal to improve the lot of its people and sustain a democracy.