March 27 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria’s environment ministry has revoked a positive assessment of Kastamonu Bulgaria’s investment project for expansion of resin production capacity, the ministry told SeeNews.
The project has been returned to the regional environmental inspectorate in the city of Stara Zagora for reconsideration of the assessment, the ministry said in an emailed statement on Friday.
The investment project is worth roughly over 120 million levs ($66 million/61.3 million euro), Çağatay Piyadeci, CEO of Kastamonu Bulgaria, said in an open letter in February. The project envisages the expansion of resin production capacity at the company's plant in the village of Gorno Sahrane, Stara Zagora municipality, in southern Bulgaria.
The decision to cancel the environmental inspectorate's approval was made after complaints submitted by the local community and municipal authorities, the ministry said, adding that it was based on “significant violations” of administrative rules. Among others, the evaluation of the project’s environmental impact lacks an opinion by the local health authority on the possible risks to human health.
The project, which involves the establishment of a new facility for the production of formalin - a highly poisonous substance used in the manufacture of resin, has previously sparked protests from environmental activists.
Kastamonu Bulgaria is part of Turkish wood-based panels maker Kastamonu Entegre, which has plants in six countries - Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, and Italy. The company uses raisins in the production of its wood particle boards.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)